A Pure One Underground: A Semi-Novelization
by Ginger the Barn Owl
Summary: Sometimes, those who FIGHT must cast aside their battleclaws. Follow the story of Undertale through the eyes of Ginger Wingren, a young Barn Owl who ends up trapped within a human's pelt beneath Mount Ebott. As she adapts to her featherless form and new environment, she learns about monster history, interacts with the locals, and most of all, uncovers the hidden strengths of MERCY.
1. AUTHOR'S NOTES

**Henlo, u stinky readerz.**

**I got into Undertale within the past few months(I feel as though I'm juuuuust a bit late. Am I? Yes? When was this game released? 2015? I guess you could say I'm a little late...)**

**Well, being the oddball I am, I've decided to write a fanfiction. The feathered protagonist of my main series is going to fall into the Underground, and what happens next is the bored, caffeine-fueled me trying to make it work.**

**A couple of things to note.**

**-This story has ties to another franchise(Guardians of Ga'Hoole. You know, that eye candy movie from 2010 about owls that almost no-one saw that was based on a book series. I'm still a huge fan of the movie designs and books, though.)****So, why is this not in the crossover section, you may ask? Well,**** the story takes place prominently in the Underground and none of the other characters from the GoGH universe make a significant impact, and are only spoken of through flashbacks 'n' such. This is a stand-alone fic, but a lot of aspects from my main fanfiction series are canon to it(in other words, my main fanfiction series is canon to these events, but not vice-versa.) Also, the crossover section on this site gets little to no traffic, so if there's anyone out there who might actually LIKE this, then they'll be able to find it.**

**-I'm working on a few other writing projects as of late; this serves as something to keep me writing instead of playing Jurassic World: The Mobile Game all day. If you think it's cringe, that's fine. I'm just doing this to entertain myself.**

**Okay. Everybody get all that?**

**Alright-y, then.**

**On with the shenanigans...**


	2. Prologue

The young Barn Owl rode the thermals and soared ever higher above the ground. The night was young, the air was crisp, and the stars above sparkled like diamonds in the rough against the inky black sky. Perfect for a leisurely flight through the mountains.

Ginger was in a very good mood; the meeting between the Pure Ones and the A.F.F. had gone surprisingly well, and the place chosen for it(the North Georgia Mountains) was the perfect location-there was so much wilderness, the chances of human discovery were close to nothing. As for the conference itself, King Metal Beak and Commander Scott had both agreed that the technological gap between the two forces was immense, and such advanced weaponry could end up destroying the Owl Kingdoms if it ended up in the wrong talons, and since they were such a long distance away from each other, intimate relations were borderline impossible. But after what the eagles had seen Ginger accomplish in the battle against the Shredders, it was decided that the High Tyto send in some of his own cadets and corporals to train under the A.F.F., and vice-versa, so that the two forces could study each other for some time, analyzing their tactics and utilizing them for either side.

And since Ginger had made such a good impression on the eagles, it was decided, that, while not to be heavily associated with the Pure Ones, the A.F.F. would very willingly send a fleet to assist the owls if things ever got particularly bleak. The Pure Ones offered to do the same, but the eagles declined, saying that they didn't want to overwhelm them, as they were far less advanced. In a nutshell, it was to be a loose alliance, but an alliance, nonetheless.

Everyone seemed satisfied with how the conference went, and Commander Scott even held a very large dinner party in the treetops to celebrate the success. As she flew, Ginger reflected upon some of the things she'd overheard the Commander and High Tyto say to each other. The two seemed to get along quite well for such imposing beings.

"So let me get this straight," the eagle started. "You met your wife in a cave?"

"Why yes. You could say that my first impression of her was very...down to earth."

Boisterous laughter had followed.

"No, but seriously," Metal beak continued. "It wasn't just any cave, though; a renowned blacksmith made his home there. He was a good friend of ours. As a matter of fact, he was the one who crafted these very battleclaws you see here."

The old Sooty Owl hadn't been hesitant to show off the somewhat embroidered, yet still very effective metal talons encasing his feet. They had lost their natural luster with age, but they were still very well kept, especially for a set so old.

"Wow. Well, by the looks of it, he was good at what he did."

"No doubt, Commander. Now, tell me something; some of your cadets were spreading the stuff of folklore around the tables; what's up with that one big mountain up to the north?"

"Mount Ebott?"

"That's the one. It doesn't sound like the typical Bigfoot stuff you hear all the time."

"Ooh, it gets pretty juicy. All of the humans' books say that anyone whoever goes up into that mountain never comes back."

"Why's that?"

"They say it's full of monsters. The book my copy-and-editors got from the library said that about a millennium ago, there was a war between the two races; the humans and the monsters."

"I assume the humans were victorious?"

"Book said that seven of humanities most powerful mages at the time sealed the monsters inside the mountain by crafting a magical barrier, trapping them in there."

"How unfortunate. I fear what might become of animalkind if the big secret ever got out."

"As long as everyone knows how to keep their mouths shut around them, I don't think anything like that will happen anytime soon. Besides, they've believed in animals possessing, eh...lesser intelligence for so long, that if anyone does catch us in the act, nobody'll believe them."

"Good, good. But it's still important. That's part of the reason we came all the way out for this, eh?"

"You could say that."

"You know something?"

"No. What?"

"Some of the local owls here know the legend, too, it seems; some came by one of the grog trees to intermingle with us, and they say that sometimes, if you listen really closely when it gets real quiet, you can hear the barrier...pulsating."

"That sounds disgusting."

"Well, that's how they put it. Pulsating like a disembodied heart."

"How many times do they make each other lose their lunch by accident when using that word?"

"I wouldn't know. Ask them!"

More boisterous laughter had followed after that. Ginger thought more about the legend. Interesting; very interesting. An entire race, hidden away for so long, and perhaps even forgotten by most of humanity at this point. Metal Beak was right; there was much more to the tale than some strange, manlike creature walking around, terrorizing livestock. This was much more mysterious.

The owl looked to the north...Was _that_ the mountain? From what she was seeing, the taller one that stuck out among all the rest had what looked like some sort of hole in the side of it. Ginger couldn't help it, she just had to see what was inside that hole. Would there really be what was spoken of? Most likely not, she reasoned, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to see what _was _there.

She made a steep bank with her starboard wing and increased her speed, eager to see what she might find. Soon enough, she found herself planting her talons on the ground, just in front of the cave entrance. The owl stepped forward and through the entrance; it was dark, but she could still see everything as clear as day, thanks to her advanced eyesight, as was typical of Barn Owls. She looked around the small cavern, and saw a multitude of vines laced around the room, covering the walls and curving around the cave floor. A few young blades of grass were trying to sprout, but it seemed like they couldn't get enough sunshine from where they were at to fully develop.

Ginger fluttered her wings and perched on one of the large vines, then immediately stumbled backward; all she had to do was look down, and she found herself staring into one of the deepest holes she'd ever seen in her life!

_Holy racdrops,_ she thought. _It's a good thing I have wings, or else that would have been a nasty fall._

Knowing what to expect this time, Ginger stepped up onto the vine again and peered back down the hole. She...could have sworn she saw where it ended. A patch of...what were those? Flowers of some sort? It was weird, but she couldn't tell. It seemed like the image of yellow petals emerging from the ground was clear one moment, and then the next moment it...blurred some.

But other than the odd blurring, the owl saw nothing separating her from the supposed flowerbed. She was honestly tempted to go down there and see it for herself; after all, she was no human. Unlike the hairless apes that ran the world, she possessed working wings that could carry her back up to where she came from whenever she desired, as well as a set of sharp, curved claws if danger struck. Humans possessed little to no natural weapons, except maybe their fists, but in her mind, blunt force was nowhere near as efficient as the ability to tear through flesh.

Ginger's curiosity got the best of her; she spread her wings and began to spiral down the hole like a vulture; an easy feat, seeing how wide and round it was. All she had to do was fly along the circumference.

She had glided about halfway down when she stopped and began to hover in one spot. Now nearly everything below was blurring, save for the small space between her and the halfway mark. In the next instance where the image below cleared, she got a better view of what was down there. Yep; that was definitely a flowerbed. A rather nice looking one, as a matter of fact; all of the flowers looked healthy and happy, and they were a beautiful shade of sunny, golden yellow.

How, though, did such a nice bunch of flowers manage to grow there when it was getting little to no sunlight? The grass around the hole was barely alive, but these? Ginger wasn't sure if she'd ever seen a flowerbed that bloomed brighter.

Odd. Very odd.

Well, there was only one way to solve this mystery: finish her descent and locate the foreign light source that was keeping them alive.

Ginger stooped her starboard wing down again, and passed through the spot that seemed to blur...

Then, all of a sudden, her wings seemed to give way, and she began to plummet.

She flapped madly, desperate to keep herself airborne, but to no avail. There was no resistance to keep her up; the ground just kept getting closer and closer, until...

The loud thud of her crashing and the sound of crinkling leaves were the last things she heard before her mind succumbed to total darkness.

* * *

**lol so I know this spawned purely from boredom and the fact that I need to reinspire myself to continue writing all the stuff I have on here, but if any of you think it's any good, let me know, because I thought the Adventures of Raptor Trainer was gonna be trash, but it's gained a surprising amount of love. I know the Undertale fandom is pretty much dead but now that I've started getting more into it I can't help but ensue these crack ideas.**


	3. Chapter 1: Fallen Down

"Ugh...I...Whah?"

Ginger opened her eyes. All she could see was yellow. She blinked to clear her vision; her eyes felt...weaker. Smaller in her head, even. She wondered why...

Her surroundings finally came into view; she was lying in the bed of golden flowers she'd come to investigate. The Pure One tried to recall what happened...She started a descent down the hole, and then when she passed the point that seemed to blur every so often, that was when she suddenly lost her ability to fly. Why did that happen? How did that happen? It felt as though her wings had been rendered completely useless, like those of a downy owlet.

She still felt off. Thankfully, she wasn't in a great deal of pain, so she couldn't have sustained any major damage, but she felt...different. Her wings felt heavy and cold, her talons were numb, she couldn't feel her tail for some reason, along with perhaps a dozen other foreign sensations...What was wrong with her?

At least she was alive, probably thanks to the flowerbed that had broken her fall. She recalled how nice they had looked; she hoped she hadn't ruined them.

Ginger stood to her feet to take a look at them; the flowers had looked a lot bigger from the halfway point of the hole, but now, they appeared no bigger to her than any dandelion she'd ever come across. Some of the ones in the middle looked somewhat pressed down, but judging by the looks of it, they would spring back to life soon enough.

She turned her gaze upward; the opening in the earth looked to be a good three hundred, or perhaps four hundred feet above, give or take. The redwood trees on the other side of the country were said to be similar in height, but it was still a massive drop. How had she managed to survive such a fall? Sure, the flowers did provide some cushioning, but they were hardly enough to break a fall like such...weren't they?

And how much time had passed since she'd come down here? The faintness of the light coming from above told her that it was still nighttime, so she couldn't have been out for that long. In fact, it looked a lot darker than usual up there. She could barely see any light.

It must have been _really_ dark.

_Ah, well,_ she reasoned, brushing off what seemed superficial. _Best not keep everyone waiting._

She spread her wings and leapt into the air for a strong dry takeoff...only to faceplant back into the earth. Now, this was confusing; her wings refused to lift her off of the ground, causing no lift when they flapped. And they still felt heavy, cold, and oddly small...Something was definitely off. Ginger lifted one of her wings to inspect it.

And her eyes widened in shock and in horror.

Her wing-or what was once her wing-was completely void of feathers, and it their place was a layer of pale skin, too thick to belong to any owl. It almost resembled the arm of a...

No. No, no, no, this wasn't really happening. It had to be a dream. Any minute now, she would wake up and find herself back among her avian kindred, right? That was the only reasonable explanation for this! This was impossible! There was no way that she could wake up after descending down a hole to find out that she'd become...

A human?

She pinched herself-nothing changed. She tried to peck herself-she ended up biting herself instead, as evident by the unmistakable toothmarks left on her skin. And as a last resort, she called out to her friends, hoping that her words would work their way out into the real world so that she could be heard.

"Anyone! Kludd! Vaygar! Phillip, buddy? Uklah!? Where are you!? Nyra! Help! Wake me up! Get me out of this place! GET ME OUT!"

**...**

**...**

***But nobody came.**

Ginger began to hyperventilate, still not fully convinced of what was happening.

"Okay, okay, okay. Calm down..."

She breathed deeply, then began to regain her composition.

"Okay...Think. One minute I was flying down the hole, then when I passed the blurry spot, that was when..."

The blurry spot. That couldn't have been...

The magical barrier spoken of in the legend, had it been?

"No, no, no, it couldn't have been. All that stuff. It's just a story, right? Monsters aren't real! That couldn't have been it..."

Ginger looked up, and she caught sight of what looked to be some sort of...gateway? She drew closer to it, finding herself going down a small corridor until she stood in front of it.

"...This is all just a bad dream," she reassured herself. "Just get it over with. None of this..."

The stone entryway was a soft shade of purple, ancient-looking pillars on either side of it. Just above the doorway was an odd symbol engraved in the stone; three small triangles sitting beneath a larger circle that appeared to have wings. This was no natural formation; somebody made this gateway. Was it a human that crafted it? Or could it have been...

Things were getting bleaker and bleaker by the minute.

"None of this is real," she reminded herself.

_I have nothing to lose._

She peaked into the next chamber. From somewhere above, there was a tiny bit of light shining down on...

Another flower. This one was bigger than all the rest, and had a white center, as opposed to the uniform yellow ones of the flowers she fell upon.

_Monsters...The stuff of monsters. The things they said really got my mind racing didn't they? Stupid dreams,_ she thought as she continued into the area, anticipating what something of the sort might look like. She fathomed a giant, black, hairy creature with the tail of an alligator and the head of a boar, readying to devour anything that crossed its path. If that was what these monsters looked like, then she wanted nothing more than to wake up and get out of this place. How long would it be until she came across something the resembled what she'd just-

"Howdy!"

The phantom voice nearly made Ginger jump out of her featherless skin. She turned around, but saw no one. Nothing but that flower.

"Who's there!?" she hollered, acknowledging the presence of...whoever made the greeting. Even without her wings and talons, she refused to go down without a fight.

"I am!"

The voice sounded...a lot less threatening than anything she'd anticipated, high-pitched and perky. She began to walk backwards, inching closer and closer to that-

"I'm down here!"

The voice was coming from almost directly down at her feet now. The Pure-One-in-Training looked down, and she saw the white and yellow flower.

And she _screamed._

The cursed thing had a **FACE!**

"Hey, wait! Where ya goin, buddy!?" the flower called to her as she scrambled to get away from it.

Ginger could barely manage a verbal response, but what came out was what she wanted to come out.

"G-get away! You stay the sprink away from me, you freaky little weed!"

"Me? A freaky little weed? Naw! I'm just your ol' pal, Flowey!"

"_'Flowey?'_"

"Yep! Flowey the Flower!"

The former Barn Owl was without words. She just fell down a hole, was suddenly a human somehow, and now she was face-to-face with a sentient flower. What would this drug-trip dream come up with next?

"Hmm...You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"

"Um...Yes?"

"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone oughta teach you how things work around here, you know? I guess lil' old me will have to do!"

At least Flowey seemed inclined to be of assistance. What he'd be able to provide her with, however, was still in question.

_Might as well just roll with it,_ she told herself. At some point, she'd be back in her nest, and all of this would go away.

"I...guess you can help me out here, if you like."

She was still very skeptical about the situation, but there was little she could think of that could help her out.

"Say no more! Are ya ready?"

"I...guess so."

"Alrighty, then! Here we go!"

"Whoa, whoa, hey! What's going on here!?"

"Don't worry, pal! You'll understand it soon!"

She felt a sudden light feeling where her gizzard used to be, and something appeared before her; a red, heart-shaped...thing.

"...What's this?"

"That's your **SOUL**, silly! The very culmination of your being!"

That thing was her _soul?_ That's what souls looked like? She didn't think they could persist outside of a living body without killing it. She didn't even think that they could hold a phsycal form, like this one did, much less one so...simple-looking. All it looked like was a red heart, nothing else. It darted back into her chest, and the flower continued its explanation.

"Now, your SOUL starts off weak, but you can make it stronger! And you know how SOULs get stronger?"

"Erm...how?"

"By gaining lots and lots of LOVE! You want some love, don'tcha?"

"What!? No! I don't want love! I want ANSWERS!" she spouted. This was getting a bit too weird for her, now.

"Aw, come on! Just a liiiiittle bit? Who knows? You might learn a thing or two anyway!"

Flowey suddenly summoned an array of small, spinning, white seed-shaped objects. They hovered around the plant.

"Down here, we share love through these here!"

"And, uh...What might those be?"

"Oh, well, they..."

Ginger couldn't quite tell, but she could have sworn she saw the happy-go-lucky face on the flower falter a bit, as though trying to think up an answer.

"They're little, white, uh...'friendliness pellets!'"

"Friendliness. Pellets."

Ginger wasn't so sure she was buying this. Then again, she wasn't really buying anything right at the moment, secretly still hoping that it was all just some crazy nightmare.

"Yeah! Friendliness pellets!"

And as suddenly as they appeared, the "friendliness pellets" began to make their way towards her.

"Move around, why don'tcha? Grab as many as you can!"

_Oh, you wish, flower-boy._

The pellets weren't moving very fast, so, despite coming at her from several different directions, she was very able to meander around them as they approached.

The smile on the flower's face seemed to waver yet again. And was that...just the tiniest prick of annoyance in its beady eyes?

"Whoopsie. Looks like you missed 'em, huh buddy? Let's try that again, okay?"

The plant pulled another set of the pellets out of nowhere, and aimed them. This time, they appeared to be moving slightly faster. Ginger had some more trouble avoiding them this time around; her seemingly altered posture and build made her feel clumsy. Despite these things, she kept herself from coming into contact with the foreign objects. Upon her dodge, she gave the plant her own 'evil eye.'

"I've had about enough of these racdrops," she spat, not at all minding her language. "What kind of funny business are you trying to pull?"

"'Funny business?' Is this a joke? Are you _braindead?_"

Ginger was actually somewhat taken aback by this. Out of everything the flower had said so far, this was what she least expected to come out of its mouth.

Flowey sent up yet another set of his white projectiles.

"Run. Into. The..."

He took a deep breath before continuing to send them at her.

"...friendliness pellets," Flowey finished, another smile plastered on his face.

Ginger's reflexes may have been thrown off some, but it didn't alter the speed of her mind. Right when all of the fast-moving seeds were about to make contact, she let her legs cave in underneath her, ducking and covering as the pellets swerved by above.

"Almost had me there," she teased the plant as she sat up straight on the stone floor.

"Heh...heh...Heh heh heh."

Ginger flashed the plant a victorious smirk...then watched in utter horror as its cutesy face contorted into a devilish image that would make the terrible Kreeth herself cower in fear.

"So...you know what's going on here, do you?" it rasped, its voice suddenly scratchy and crazed. "I should have known you wouldn't cooperate."

"Not in whatever game this is," she replied, standing her ground against the possessed flower. "I had an offish feeling about you from the start, you know that?"

"So, you just wanted to watch me suffer, didn't you?"

"Honestly, no...But in hindsight, it was pretty amusing to watch you fail at...whatever you were trying to get at."

"Well, human...How's about a little taste of your own medicine?"

He surrounded his still-sitting victim with the most of the little white projectiles he could muster at once. Ginger stared at the barrage of perhaps three score pellets above her, readying themselves for impact.

"**DIE.**"

The flower let out a demonic cackle as he sent the pellets in, and they grew closer and closer.

"You wait until I get out if here! I'll send colliers from all over just to dump bucket loads of coals over-"

"**Spare your breath! You'll never see the light of-**"

All of a sudden, Flowey's projectiles fell to the ground and dissipated, as though disrupted by some unseen force.

"What? How..." the flower wondered aloud at his failed attack. Ginger was thinking the same thing.

It was then that she caught sight of what looked to be...a ball of flames, no bigger than a human's fist, hovering just to the right of the wretched weed. In a split second, it rammed into the flower, sending it up in flames. Flowey emitted several pained screams before retreating into the patch earth he was planted in. Ginger sat back up, completely dumbfounded. What had just happened? Where did that flaming ball come from?

The unmistakable sound of footsteps interrupted her train of thought, and they stopped just a mere few feet away from her. Ginger braced herself for what she was about to see, the legends of the monsters inhabiting this place flooding back to her. Would she look up and see a human, a fellow bird trying to awaken her from the dream, or something else entirely?

She looked down to her side. There, staring her right in the face, was a pair of furry white paws, not unlike a polar bear.

"What a miserable creature," an unfamiliar voice remarked. "Attacking a poor, innocent youth."

She scanned further upwards; the creature was clothed in royal violet robes, with some odd symbol embroidered on the front of them, and it's head was like that of a white mountain goat, the only obstruction of similarity being the two sharp canine teeth jutting out from the upper jaw.

Ginger froze, paralyzed by her own fear. Was she really looking up at...

...a monster?

"...My child," the humanoid goat continued, a twinkle of concern entering her soft, burgundy eyes. "Are you alright?"

Ginger was blinded from her gentle gaze by her own horror, and the eyes of the young general rolled back into her head, and she collapsed onto the floor into a dead faint.

* * *

_..._

* * *

The first thing Ginger noted when she began to regain her senses was how warm and comfortable she felt. It was almost as though she had been enveloped by the soft wings of Glaux Himself. She stared up at the ceiling; it was...oddly smooth for the top of a tree hollow, she noted.

"Ugh..." she groaned, a small grin spreading across her face. "That was a crazy dream."

She sat up and stretched. Instantly, the warm feeling fell away; an unpleasant sensation. Her wings flopped in front of her-

And landed on an unfamiliarly soft material.

"Wait...What? What is-"

She looked down at her wings. They were still bare, and still dense, just like before. And the fabric they'd landed on turned out to be a comforter; something that owls, or any bird for that matter, didn't regularly use, especially during the heat of the day, when owls normally slept, even in the autumn, when it began to cool down.

She took a look around; the room was dimly lit, but her trained eyes could make out a few things; a wardrobe, a desk, a lampshade...All things that owls had little use for.

But humans did.

She looked down at her not-wings again; they did very much resemble human arms. She sat up, and mentally examined herself, realizing several differences in her physicality.

Her knees felt like they had shifted to the front of her legs, and her talons felt numb and stiff; she couldn't even feel a back one. It was almost as though they'd been reduced to nothing but stubs. And she didn't even want to contemplate the apparent downgrade her once acute senses of eyesight and hearing had received. She could barely see in this dimly lit room; as an owl, she would have been able to make out everything probably twice, if not three times better, or even more than that.

She grumbled, untangled herself from the bedsheets and planted her now flat feet on the floor, wondering when she would finally awaken from this hagsmire of a dream...if it even was a dream.

If she had woken up in a bed and not a nest, paired with the fact that she had no recollection of going to sleep in the first place, the odds of this all being fake were growing slimmer and slimmer.

As she fumbled around the room, searching for a light switch, another question entered her mind; one that she realized was probably more important than any of the one's she'd been asking so far if this were all indeed real.

Whose house was this? And how did she get here? The last thing she recalled was...

Did it belong to that white goat-like creature who had supposedly saved her from the wrath of...Flowey, was his name? The next time she saw that flower, she promised herself she would give him a good trampling before he sent a barrage of his quote-unquote "friendliness pellets" her way. But anyways, the creature had been the last thing she'd seen before blacking out; granted, though, it was the reason she blacked out.

If this was indeed her house, than the only explanation was that she'd carried her here. And if this was the case, what were her intentions? Yes, the creature did apparently save her from that horrible "Flowey" creature...but for what reason? Had it been a genuine act of kindness...or had she only done away with the flower because it was stealing her chance to do something worse?

As much as the fear began to accumulate in her gut, she couldn't help but want to know more. So she made up her mind that she would explore what she could, and teach herself more about this place, whatever it was, and then find out how to escape it. And if she ran into trouble, she would simply send her claws flying across whoever tried to...

Wait.

She...didn't _have _claws anymore.

Ginger ran one of her fleshy hands across her face, which also proved to be featherless(and shaped much differently as well.) and was quick to realize that she'd lost her sharp beak, too.

And flying was completely out of the question.

So, then...what could she use?

Humans did have teeth, didn't they? She could bite instead of peck. And fingernails; they were a far cry from the hooked, black claws she used to have on her feet, but they could probably still do something.

Finally, her hand brushed against what felt like a doorknob. Some of the more private chambers of the Tytonic Palace had them for extra security, instead of being normal hollow openings, so she was familiar with them. She turned it, wondering what was on the outside.

Ginger was instantly washed over by light. She blinked for a few moments; the contrast between the lighting in the bedroom and the hallway was messing with her eyes, and she quietly shut the door behind her. To the left, there was more hallway, and what looked to be a wide mirror at the end of it. To her right, she could see that the room she'd just come out of was at the end of the hall, and lead to what appeared to be a stairway, then another door, and further down was a living room-dining room area, and she could hear the faint crackling of a lit fireplace from far down. Perhaps, if she were lucky, she could snag a look at herself before checking to see if that door lead to the outside...or before she were caught by its owner.

_Just to see what I might have going for me._

She walked as swiftly as she was able to across the hardwood floor without making too much noise, passing a few potted plants on her way there. Once she reached the mirror, she approached it, fearful of what she might see.

No doubt, she was a human.

_Great. This is just great..._

She continued to look at herself.

_Well...If I had to be a human, I guess it could have been worse than this._

She was grateful, at least, that she wasn't an ugly human. She was fair-skinned, and slim, but still particularly toned for her age; a result of rigorous training with her fellow Pure Ones. And she was tall, even for a human, and especially one of only twelve years; she estimated, from the ground up, she had to be five feet, if not more than that, and she had donned an orange short-sleeve shirt, which sported two broad, white stripes wrapping around her middle, and two thinner ones around each of the sleeves. Her shorts were a solid, earthy brown, and her shoes were similarly colored, except for the lighter orange streaks running across them. It almost looked as though they had been slashed by a pair of battleclaws that left colored markings instead of tears. Overall, she didn't think it looked all that bad.

But the silver lining was nothing compared to the growing storm cloud in Ginger's head that it tried to shine through. She was still upset at the unexplained change, and she developed an almost mournful longing to be her old self again. The only things that bore any resemblance to what she looked like before were her hair and eyes.

The long, flowing, yet slightly unkempt locks were a tawny shade of ginger brown; the same color her feathers had been. And while the color wasn't the source of her name, she had to admit, it had been quite coincidental that her parents had decided to name her after a color that wouldn't show itself until after she had grown in her first flight feathers. There were other factors, but it still seemed somewhat strange.

Her eyes had also retained their original color; a very bright, very deep shade of sky blue. But they were so small now, and so much weaker. She sighed deeply, massaging her temples. How was she going to deal with this?

"Is that you?"

The voice made the owl-turned-human jump, and she scrambled backward towards the end of the hallway, emitting panicked screeches, and pressing herself against the wall as best she could. After what seemed like an eternity of wide-eyed hyperventilation, Ginger finally began to see who she was actually looking at.

It was the same caprine creature from before, and it looked just as startled as she was.

"Child, what is wrong?" she questioned, beginning to approach the young human. "You-"

"Stay back! Stay back, do you hear me!? Get back!"

She lashed her arm out, trying to bare the claws she forgot weren't there. To her satisfaction, the creature stepped back again, though more out of will than of fear.

"My dear child, you have nothing to be afraid of," she reassured. "I wouldn't dream of bringing you any harm."

"You wouldn't..." she countered, refusing to fall into any sort of trap. "What makes you think I'm going to believe you? For all I know, you could be some sadist trying to lower my guard so you can deal the killing blow when I least expect it, like that hags-spawn flower back there! Is that why you brought me here? Is that what you are!? Some sort of **MONSTER!?**"

The creature backed away even more, covering her slightly agape mouth with the paws she had for hands in the place of cloven hooves. As she stood there, speechless, Ginger closely analyzed the goat's expression, searching her wine red eyes as well as she could for a glimmer of mischief, a spark of deceit, the dull glow of insanity...but she found nothing of the sort.

All she could see in her gaze was pure emotion; concern, shock, a tad bit of hurt...and love.

A soft twinkle of instinctive, unconditional love, one that Ginger had only ever seen in her own mother and, on occasion, the Ablah General Nyra. It was all she needed in order to know that the creature really was true to her word; she wanted to help her.

And she'd just called her a MONSTER.

"I...I didn't mean that. I just...After what happened, I..."

"No, no, I understand," she responded, her voice as gentle as a dove. "You..."

A look of realization spread across her white furred face, and she placed a paw on her head in shame.

"Oh, how silly of me...You must think monsters are bad, don't you? You were only trying to protect yourself, were you not?"

And that was when she remembered the stories, and how the hidden race of monsters was trapped underground after the war. She wasn't a figurative monster, she was...

"So...what you're saying is...You're an actual, literal monster?"

"Why, yes."

"So the legends were true...But..."

She looked down at her hands again.

"How...how did _this_ happen?"

She wasn't talking to the goat monster anymore, rather herself, but she was still listening.

"You've fallen down; there's a very large hole in the mountain, and every so often, someone falls through it and ends up here," the monster explained, re-approaching the young human and bending down to her eye level.

"Yeah, I know. I know I fell down the hole," she spat. "I just don't know how this..."

She looked back down at her fleshy hands, things that she never dreamed of having, in utter disgust.

"I'm not supposed to be this...thing! And how am I going to get out of this place!? I fell down a three hundred foot hole, and I have no wings! How am I going to get back home!? What am I going to do!?"

The monster got down onto her knees; the human was breathing heavily, and on the verge of tears. She saw so many things in the girl's eyes; fear, grief, longing, anger. She seemed so desperate to go back home...it only broke her heart even more knowing...

"Dear child..." she soothed, wrapping the human in an embrace. "Everything will be alright. You're safe here."

It took Ginger a few moments to comprehend what was happening.

_No...**no**. I will **not** let myself fall apart. Not now. Not when anyone can see. Keep it together..._

It only took a handful of seconds for her to regain her composure, and she let out a deep sigh before pulling herself away from the monster.

"Well...I, ah...don't suppose we've properly introduced ourselves yet, have we?" she remarked, trying to maintain professionalism by courteously extending an arm for the monster to shake; it was almost as though she'd been completely fine the whole time

"Why, no. I don't believe we have," the creature replied, meeting her halfway with one of her paws. "My name is Toriel; keeper of the Ruins."

"Pleasure. And, uh...Ginger; commanding general of-"

She quickly covered her mouth, as though to prevent the words that formed in her head from escaping. How could she be so stupid!? She couldn't go around telling random people-or monsters in this case-about the Tytonic Union! It would put the entire organization in jeopardy!

"'Commanding general?' My goodness; is this true?"

Just when she was about to correct herself and tell the monster-"Toriel," she said her name was-to forget she'd ever said anything like that, Ginger remembered another detail; the monsters were trapped underground by some sort of magical barrier, so there was no way any information could get up to the humans, was there? Still...just to be careful...

"Ma'am...How well can you keep a secret?"

She had already begun her explanation, so it was no use covering it up with a blatant lie now. She would have to answer any question she may have carefully, though; one slip concerning owl civilization and the entirety of birdkind could be put at stake. Even if the monsters were sealed underground, what would happen if they escaped somehow and carried the sensitive information with them to the surface?

"Quite well, I believe, if the need ever arises. But for whatever reason?"

"I'll explain it to you...but ONLY if you don't tell anyone. I could end badly for my...workforce. And that place is my whole life. You understand, right?"

"...Yes. Yes, I understand. I'll keep whatever secret you have to tell me."

"Alright. So, a long-"

"Oh, just a moment, dear; why don't we take this out into the dining area? We can sit down there, instead of having to stand around the hallway like this."

"Erm...Okay, I guess..."

As glad as she was that Toriel had only pure intentions, Ginger still found the whole situation...odd. Everything that had happened so far since her fall had been odd; she tried to fly down to the bottom of the mountain, got turned into a human halfway down, somehow survived the additional two hundred foot drop, was nearly murdered by a psychotic, sentient flower, and had been rescued by this humanoid goat monster that was now leading her over to a set of antique table and chairs. Whatever she had just gotten herself into...

She knew she had to get out of it. She didn't know when, and she didn't know how. But she promised herself she would; not just for her sake, but for the ones missing her on the surface.

And the objective filled her with** DETERMINATION.**

* * *

_**A/N: Soooooo, what'chall think? Yeah, yeah, it's probably not going to be the best, and since it's got links to the O.C.'s original franchise, it's not going to be 100%, completely canon. But writing stuff like this is fun, you know? And when I start writing, one thing, it makes me want to work on other stories, too, so it's a good motivator for my other stories. I've got two other projects I'm currently working on to get the next chapter finished, and this is helping me get those done.**_

_**But if there's any chance that SOMEBODY actually likes this, let me know. I know the Undertale fandom is pretty much dead, so this probably won't get a whole lot of views. I never hopped onto the hype train when it first came out(because a CERTAIN FRANCHISE about possessed entertainment robots held me back and I never got interested, *wink, wink ;P*) and I only found myself getting into Undertale when I(for some reason) got a recommendation in my YouTube for all of the possible Neutral Endings. Maybe I was browsing too many spooky skeleton memes those few months ago? Megalovania's still a fairly strong meme, I think, and there were a few mixed in with the spooks...yeah, I was watching spooky memes in May, what'chu gon' do 'bout it?**_

_**But that's how it went for me. I dove into the wormhole and there was no going back. And now I'm writing this.**_

_**Later, sprinktards!**_


	4. Chapter 2: The Mysterious Ruins

"So, just to make sure I have everything down," the monster inquired from in the kitchen. "Your, erm...organization is hidden from the rest of society on an island far away, and you've come here on business?"

"That's about right."

"And you came by yourself to explore the mountain after hearing rumors of...our existence?"

"Yep. Never thought some old folk tale would really have any solid backing; just wanted to look around, see if there was anything of interest besides that. Once I get out of here, though, you don't need to worry about me tootin' my horn about it; if anybody found out about what was really down here, they'd be all over this place."

Toriel seemed to tense up for a moment.

"That begs the question," the human continued. "What's outside the house here? You said that you were, what was it...'Keeper of the Ruins?'"

"Outside...? Oh, yes; the Ruins. They have been around for a very long time."

"You mind if I head out there and take looksee?"

"...A-alone? My child, I am not sure if it would be safe for-"

"Don't worry about me; I've had a lot of training, and I can handle danger pretty well."

What Ginger was saying wasn't entirely true; as a human, she would have to readapt to the battlefield. But even without claws and wings, she could manage a scuffle or two, as long as she always kept her guard up...right?

"But...still..."

"Hey, you don't need to worry about me; do you know how many times I've sunk-"

"I have an idea," the goat monster interrupted. "What if I gave you a **CELL PHONE**?"

"A...a what?"

"Y-you don't know what that is?"

"Wait-Oh, yeah! Yeah, one of those. No, I know what you're talkin' about."

She'd heard of them before; humans used them for instant long-distance communication, and it was supposedly much more efficient than writing letters or sending telegrams, according to the books written about human civilization in the Tytonic Library.

Apparently, monsters had access to such technology as well.

"Though, I've never used one...or, uh...seen one, even. You could say that my organization is a bit...primeval."

"Oh...Well, allow me to explain it to you. Wait here."

The human heard some rummaging in the kitchen, then the monster returned with something small and black in her furry white hand. She flipped it open, revealing a device with perhaps a dozen or more buttons, most of which were labeled with numbers and odd symbols.

"Now I'll keep it simple; if you want to call me, just press the green button on the left right here. You don't need to dial any numbers."

Ginger sighed with relief; it seemed simple enough. The monster shut the contraption and handed it to the human, and she stuck it in the pocket of her brown pants.

"I have one just like it. Just remember to shut it when you're done."

"Right...Got it."

Ginger eyed the doorway.

"So, uh...Mind if I-"

"Oh, yes. Right. About that...I hope you don't mind, but I feel it wise for me to accompany you a part of the way...just in case something goes awry. Several monsters inhabit the Ruins, and if you were somehow-"

Ginger let out her best attempt at a sigh through her nostrils; she didn't want her frustration to be made perfectly clear. But if there really were hostile monsters out there...

"I...guess it wouldn't hurt if you tagged a long some of the way."

"Oh, wonderful. I'll make sure to explain anything that need be explained if you need it," the monster replied, escorting her to the door.

"Uh-huh...Right. Then, let's head out, 'kay?"

_Ghee wiz...Clingy, much?_

The front door opened, revealing a large, enclosed space, and a large, bare tree stuck out in the middle if it; the ground beneath it was covered in scarlet leaves that looked like they had only recently fallen off.

"What kind of tree is that?"

"Oh, that old tree? I am not quite sure, dear; it is very old, and whenever it tries to grow new leaves, they always fall off within an hour. It's...a sad sight."

"It's always like that?"

"It is."

"All year?"

"All year."

"Wow...and I thought it was just because it was autumn..."

The two of them approached the corridor past the tree, and Ginger stopped to inspect one of the fallen leaves.

"I think I know what kind of tree this is."

"Oh, you do?"

"It's a red maple tree; we have a few of these growing in one of the forests where I'm from, except they don't shed their leaves as often."

"Ah...Thank you for that. I have always wondered what it might be...Anyway, shall we continue?"

"Let's do that."

She followed the monster into the next room; more leaves were spread across the floor, and up ahead the path split two ways. Toriel lead the human to the right.

"This way; the other path leads to a dead end."

"How big is this place?"

"Oh, it is fairly spacious; there are not too many monsters living here. And once you familiarize yourself with the puzzles, these old catacombs are not hard to navigate."

"I see...and where do they begin?"

"Well, they 'begin' quite a ways from here, but one must solve them in a certain order in order to properly get around. I hope it isn't much trouble, but I believe it wise to start from the very beginning, just so it makes more sense. I would have done so when I first found you, but..."

"I blacked out, is that correct?"

"Yes. That is what happened. Now, watch your footing, dear. The floor is loose in some places here, and the last thing I would want is for you to end up falling."

Ginger was about to answer that she didn't have to worry about her falling, but then she remembered, once again, that she had lost her ability to fly, so she said nothing.

It was quite a ways away to the other end of the Ruins, so Ginger took the advantage to analyze some of what she saw on the way there; it might prove useful later. The first room had several pillars, another had what looked like a metal bridge(which had several evenly-placed holes in its sections for some reason) and some more had very worn floors. Finally, they reached the end of the final room, which was actually technically the first room. It had nothing more than a few pillars and switches on the walls.

"Now, the puzzles reset whenever someone treks through a room for the second time, so one must solve them. This first one should be easy for you, Ginger. All you need to do is flip the switches on the walls in order from this end to the next. I even have them labeled so you know which ones to flip."

"Did you, uh...do that while I was out?"

"Oh, no, my dear. The writing has actually been on the walls for a long time. You are not the first human to have fallen down here, you know; a few of your predecessors found this one somewhat difficult, so I was inclined to label the ones they need flip."

"Oh...okay, then."

"I'll wait at the other end for you to finish," the caprine creature said to her, and she made her way to the end of the room from which they first came from.

Toriel wasn't kidding about how easy it would be. The writing was white on the royal purple walls, making it extremely obvious, and there were only two that had the writing next to them. And the switches didn't stick or anything like the sort, so that was good.

"Splendid!" the monster praised. "I am very proud."

"Question," Ginger said to her, pointing at the one lever that wasn't labeled. "What happens when you flip this one?"

"Oh, that one doesn't even work, I think. It's, well...a decoy. Part of the puzzle."

Ginger tried to pull down on it to test this; she was right. It wouldn't budge.

"I see what you mean."

"You did quite well. Now, on to the next room. This next part isn't exactly a puzzle, but it is still very important for you to learn."

She followed the monster into the next room. There were no obvious puzzles, rather what looked like...

An old, tattered training dummy sitting at the far wall.

"As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you," Toriel told her, the thought of it alone making her seem nervous. "You will need to be prepared for this situation."

"Oh, I get it; is this, like, a training session?"

"Why, yes! You could say that."

"Alright, let me at this thing."

Ginger approached the dummy and sparred, imagining it doing the same.

"Time to see what these fists can do," she growled, readying a hook.

"Ah, no, no, no, no, no!"

The goat monster put herself in between her and the dummy before Ginger could deal a solid blow.

"The dummy is for talking to, not for fighting!" she said. "We...we wouldn't want to hurt anybody, now, would we, dear?"

"Toriel, you should see what I do. I train like this almost every single day."

"Maybe, but...A-allow me to explain. Monsters aren't as...physically strong as humans are. If you engage in such a fight, you might accidentally...you might hurt them more than you intended."

_Ugh..._

A training dummy that she couldn't beat to a pulp; how pointless.

"How am I supposed to defend myself, then?"

"Worry not, dear Ginger; the process is simple. In the event that you happen upon a monster, try to strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, and I will come to resolve the conflict."

Talk to the training dummy? Is that what she wanted her to do?

_Well...might as well get it over with._

She lowered her fists, looking the dummy in its button eyes.

"Nice, uh...patchwork," she said to it. There wasn't much else to say.

Toriel urged her to continue.

"You're a dummy, huh? How, uh...befitting for someone like you. Got anything up in there besides cotton?"

It didn't seem much for conversation, that was for sure.

Fortunately, Toriel seemed amused by the results.

"Oh, my..." she giggled. "You must not think very highly of the dummy, do you?"

"I mean, it's a dummy. It's not like it's gonna get mad."

"Well, no. But when you encounter a real monster, try to say something just a bit nicer. Who knows? You just might make someone's day."

Ginger gave the monster a barely discernible nod; she didn't care much for what the mounters down here thought of her; all she wanted was to navigate the Ruins and find an escape route.

"Now, on to the next room. Follow me."

They headed out the north doorway, then started down a long corridor leading east. She dragged somewhat behind Toriel; her new human form was beginning to feel heavy on her.

It made sense, though; without thicker bones and a larger build, she figured that she would begin to feel clumsy eventually.

Her thoughts were cut off by a croak, and something big and white hopped in front of her.

It looked like some sort of giant frog, with curious, peering eyes and darker markings on its front.

Was this a monster?

"I, uh..." she said to it, remembering what Toriel had said. "I like your...spots?"

It's pale face developed a mild pink hue...which promptly disappeared.

The human looked up to see the goat monster peering down at it with a stern look in her eye, and the frog shrank back away from them before hopping away.

"Those Froggits," she fussed. "Always showing up at the least convenient times. Are you quite alright, dear?"

"I guess so," she replied. "It didn't exactly look...threatening."

"You'd be surprised at what they can manage. But for the time being, I am pleased by your progress. It looked like you made that monster quite happy, if just for a moment."

"I, ah...guess I did, eh?"

"Now come along. The next puzzle is just up here."

She followed the monster into the room on the other side of the winding corridor.

"Oh...I remember this one."

Toriel had instructed her to take her hand while she navigated across the spikes in a particular manner. The minute it looked as though she'd step on one of them, they would retreat back into the holes they came in and out of. Ginger discerned that one must step on the spiky floor in a certain way in order to safely cross it.

"I...don't suppose you remember exactly how to do this one?"

"Eh...no."

Ginger peered down, somewhat humiliated that she couldn't remember the path they'd taken, at the shallow, rippling water below the bridge that the puzzle was situated on. She wasn't inclined to holding Toriel's hand as they crossed the bridge again; it made her feel silly after she'd been easily taking care of herself for so long. Not very professional.

She had thoughts of crossing through the water, but she didn't think that would paint a very flattering image of her, either. And while humans were supposedly better in the water than owls were, she had no idea how to properly swim. So for the time being, she figured it would be best to pick the lesser of two humiliations.

"I'll tell you what; I'll explain it as we go along. Just be careful, alright?"

"Eh...Okay."

"Very good."

Toriel took the human's hand before explaining how the bridge puzzle was divided into 56 square segments, and she noted the path as they traversed it.

Ginger jotted down all of the steps in her head as Toriel stated them:

Four across.

Two up.

Three across.

Two down.

Five across.

Two up.

And then they made the rest of the way across, which was only two segments.

_Four, two up, three, two down, five, two up, then straight,_ she repeated to herself. Now all she had to do was keep repeating it until she found something to jot it down on other than her brain.

"You've done excellent thus far, my child," Toriel praised as they made heir way into the next room. "However..."

"Hm? What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear; were you thinking of something?"

"Just trying to keep the puzzle directions from going out the other ear."

"Ah, I see. Very smart decision. But, anyway...I hope you don't mind, but I have...a difficult request to ask of you."

"Uh...What would that be?"

"I...would like you to walk to the other end of the room by yourself."

"...Is that it?"

"You wouldn't mind that?"

"No. No, not at all."

"A-alright, then. Meet me on the other side."

The monster walked at a brisk paced towards the other end of the long hallway, obviously not wanting Ginger to follow directly behind. The human didn't bother starting right away; she was busy still repeating the directions to that bridge puzzle in her head.

And she found herself doing it when she finally did decide to trek to the other end, her eyes focused on her footsteps. Every so often, she would look up, just to make sure she wasn't going to run into a wall or something of the like. The hallway was very long, and at the end of it on her left side was a pillar.

She didn't see Toriel there, though; maybe she was waiting beyond the door just ahead?

Finally, she reached the end, and passed by the pillar, barely acknowledging it, before sticking her head through the doorway to the next room. But the monster was nowhere to be seen inside.

"Uh...Toriel?"

"I'm right here, young one."

And she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Ginger whizzed around to face the white goat.

"Where'd you go?"

"Do not worry; I was merely behind that pillar the whole time."

"Oh..."

"I hope I didn't alarm you with my disappearance, did I?"

"Eh...Not really. I mean, you would've said something if you were going to leave, right? I figured you couldn't have been far."

"Yes, that is correct. Thank you for trusting me."

Toriel's eyes glimmered with happiness, and Ginger could see just the faintest hint of recollection flash in them, as though she'd done this all once before.

"However, there was an important reason for this exercise."

"What's the reason?"

"Well...to test your independence. I...must attend to some business, and I'm afraid you must stay alone for a while."

"Oh, that's it? Well, you don't need to worry about me; I can take care of myself just fine."

"Are you quite sure you'll be alright by yourself?"

"It's not a problem."

"Well...Alright. Please remain here, though; this is one of the only places where no monsters come around, simply because I pass through here so often; I feel as though, sometimes, that I scare them half to death."

"Well, that Froggit served a fine example of that, that's for sure."

"Yes...Yes, he did."

There was a twinge of loneliness on the monster's voice.

"Anyway...Just in case something goes wrong, you remember how to call me on that cell phone, do you not?"

"It's all in here," Ginger replied, pointing at her head.

"Wonderful. Be good, alright?"

And, saying these things, the monster turned and left through the next room. Ginger sat down on the purple stone floor; what kind of stone was this? She imagined that it had to have been painted or dyed purple, as she knew of no stone or mineral that developed the color naturally. The bricks making up the walls were purple as well; dye, it had to be dye.

But she was surprised at how bright the colors were. Despite their brilliant color, the walls looked very old; there were several cracks in some parts of them, and long, twirling vines grew out from holes on either side of the pillar Toriel had hidden herself behind, so she was surprised that such colors had not faded over the years. She thought about them...

And very quickly grew bored of thinking.

She had to get up and DO something, not just sit here like an imbecile. It was a waste of time. Besides, who knew how long it would take for the monster to come back, so even if there wasn't much else to do, she couldn't just be expected to sit in one place for several hours.

Ginger eyed the doorway to the next room; she had been instructed to remain in the hallway, where no monsters would emerge to challenge her, but she didn't rightly care.

She was UP for a challenge. The challenge of adapting to her new and strange surroundings. And in order to properly adapt, she would have to see what kind of creatures she would encounter, and how to deal with them properly.

Besides, if Toriel was so worried about her, wouldn't she be pleased to find that she could navigate the Ruins without assistance?

And she'd left, so she wouldn't know what she was doing, right?

Ginger practically jumped back onto her feet and made her way into the next room. And as soon as she stepped inside...

The cell phone the human had slipped into her pocket vibrated, and made somewhat of a ringing sound. Ginger quickly fished it out and flipped it open, putting it up to her head.

The unmistakable voice of the monster came from the other end, albeit slightly muffled.

"_Hello? This is Toriel._"

"Ah...Hi? How's it going? Sorry, I've never used one of these things, so I-"

"_Not an issue, dear. Erm...I'm just checking up to see if everything is alright. You have not left the room, have you? There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain, and it would be dangerous to try and solve them yourself._"

"Uh..."

"_Just be good, alright?_"

"Yeah, I-"

She heard a beeping sound coming from the other end, and she pulled the phone away to inspect it.

***call ended,*** it read on the small screen.

"Oh...she's gone."

"***ribbit***...Excuse me, human..."

The unfamiliar voice made her jump, and she jerked her head around to see who had addressed her. It was...a Froggit. The same one from before, it looked like.

But it didn't seem inclined to battle her.

"Um...Hello?" she answered it, the possibility of a surprise attack floating around the back of her mind. "Were you talking to me?"

"Yes...***ribbit***...I have some advice for you about battling monsters."

"...You do, huh?"

"If you ACT a certain way, or FIGHT until you've almost defeated them...they might not want to battle you anymore.

"Really?"

"Yes. If a monster does not want to fight you, then please...Use some **MERCY,** human...***ribbit.***"

Before she could ask anything else, the Froggit hopped away.

Use some MERCY...

The Froggit's words echoed in her mind as Ginger turned her attention back to the room she was in. There were a few leaf piles; maybe Toriel had deposited them there to give the room some more color. And on top of one of them was...

_What is that?_

It looked almost like...a tiny, shimmering star, floating just above the pile of red leaves. She bent down to further inspect it; it glowed a warm shade of yellow.

Barely realizing what she was doing, she reached her hand out towards it. What would happen if she...

***Ruins-Leaf Pile**

***File Saved**

"Huh? What?"

The words flashed just above the star. "File Saved?" What was that supposed to mean?

"Alright, Toriel, I'm gonna need a good explanation for this one when I see you again."

At least the tiny entity hadn't harmed her in any way...at least, not to her knowledge.

She turned away from the star to continue south-

And was immediately lumped by another Froggit!

This one was different from the first one; slightly bigger, bulkier, and not quite as...mild, it seemed. Maybe it had realized that Toriel was gone, and took advantage of the situation.

"Oh, you wanna piece of me, huh?"

The Froggit croaked, seemingly nervous, and then, out of nowhere, it summoned an array of tiny, white buzzing projectiles, almost like flies.

Something that caught the human completely off guard.

"Hey! What is this!? Get these things away from me!" she cried out, dodging them as best she could. She swatted at one, but the moment it touched her arm, it dissipated, causing a burst of pain in the location that made the human cry out. After the assault ceased, she gave the monster a piercing glare, then swung her good arm at it, fist clenched.

"This'll teach ya good!" she spat, sending the blow right across the Froggit's face. The impact nearly sent it flying across the room, and once it got back onto its feet, it crouched, cowering in the corner, looking very remorseful.

Toriel had been right when she said that monsters were physically weaker than humans in terms of defense. But the same didn't go for offense.

"Augh..." Ginger grumbled, rubbing the tender spot on her arm. "You're pretty strong for a frog, you know..."

The monster's white face turned red, and she saw what looked like a small smile of its face...Did...did it take that as a compliment?

"Ah...You know what? Lemme ask you something. What's the point of attacking me?"

"It's nothing personal, human," he croaked. "We just need your **SOUL**, is all."

"WHAT!?"

The frog sent another series of flies at her, which, now knowing what would happen if she touched them, she maneuvered around quite hastily.

"You cant have my SOUL! It's...it's me! I can't live without it!"

"We know, but it's the only way we can break the Barrier."

"Wha-I...Get out of here, or I'll punch you again! And tell your friends the same thing! I'm not going to have some freaky frog monsters trying to steal my SOUL!"

The Froggit stood its ground, but it seemed very reluctant to fight her, fearing it may be struck again if it sent another attack her way.

Ginger sighed.

"Look. Just...Can't you find another way to break the Barrier?"

"We know of no other way."

"Well...Maybe there's one out there. You just have to keep looking. Just don't do that anymore, alright? I've already got enough on my plate to deal with."

"Thank you, human, for being so merciful."

The monster hopped out of her way, back towards another, smaller room up north, trying to shake what the Froggit had said about the monsters' intentions from her mind. Ginger continued down the path, passing by one more pile of leaves. It made her think about that strange star, and what read above it. "File Saved...What did that mean?

Her thoughts were cut off when something buzzed into her face, and then immediately hovered a good distance away. It appeared to be another monster...but it looked far different from a Froggit.

It looked more like a moth, sporting small, powdery wings, and long antennae on its head, and it wore a very meek expression. It looked absolutely pathetic; amusingly so, even.

"Um...Are you gonna try and fight me, I assume?"

"I-I-I'm going to try!" it stuttered, clearly not up for the challenge.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" she questioned. "It's not gonna be easy."

"I...I-I-I..."

The moth brought its hands to its face and buzzed off.

That had certainly been easy.

Ginger continued. The next room was small, but the cracked spot in the floor, separating one half from the other, made her wary. She remembered that when they had passed through this way, Toriel had taken a staircase that lead to a room beneath the cracks beneath the cracks, which allowed them to proceed, so she could do the same on her own.

But she was inclined to try something else.

The cracked space was around five feet across; about as long as she was tall. She wasn't sure what the limitations of a human body were as compared to owls, but she decided that, if she were a human, she'd see what they could do

Particularly, how well their legs worked.

Ginger backed away from the cracks, almost all the way back to the door she'd come in from, then sprinted at them, pushing up with her foot right before she stepped on them.

For a brief moment, she felt like she was flying again.

She stretched her legs out as they touched the solid floor on the other side; her heels pressed against the cracks, and the sound of the floor caving in beneath them made her promptly step farther away.

She'd done it.

Just barely, but she'd cleared the jump.

She swelled with pride; perhaps humans were capable of more than she'd first assumed.

_Don't get cocky,_ she reminded herself, wondering what else the Ruins had in store for her.

Ginger had just barely exited the room when she was jumped by yet another Froggit.

_Typical..._

"You know," she said to it, hoping she could coax this one out of a battle as well with a compliment. "I never realized it until now, but you would make a great...uh...You could be a..."

Her mind went blank.

"You could be a professional...frog?"

_That was stupid...Stupid, stupid, stupid..._

But the enemy thought quite otherwise.

"You think I really could be a professional frog? ***ribbit***"

"Um...Yeah! S-sure you can!" she continued. "Just...All you gotta do is put your mind to it!"

"I think I'll go start practicing now. Thank you, human."

And the monster hopped away, an eager smile on its face. Ginger was somewhat confused by this, but at least she hadn't been battered with an assault of flies again.

Maybe what that first Froggit had told her about MERCY would get her somewhere anyway.

And the same went for Toriel and her advice on speaking to the monsters to coax them out of fighting her instead of right-on retaliation.

Ginger entered the next room; there was another row of spiked directly ahead of her, and a fairly large rock in between them and her. She stepped forward.

And the phone rang again.

The human picked it up.

"Hello?"

"_Hello? This is Toriel,_" the monster said to her.

"What's up?"

"_For no reason in particular...which do you prefer? Cinnamon or Butterscotch?_"

_...What?_

She knew what cinnamon was; it was essentially the dried inner bark of cinnamon trees, and supposedly had a strong, sweet odor. Some owls used the substance for healing, particularly the Glauxian Monks in the Northern Kingdoms, but she had read once that it was edible as well, albeit not very pleasant by itself. She knew very well what cinnamon was. But...

"Uh...Question?"

"_Yes, dear?_"

"What exactly is butterscotch?"

"_You don't know, child?_"

"No, I...can't say I do."

"_Well, I'll tell you one thing, it's very good. To put it simply, it's butter that has been cooked almost to the point of burning, but not quite, which is then mixed with brown sugar._"

"Oh, so, it's like a dessert-type thing?"

"_Why yes. Same with cinnamon, in case you were unaware._"

"I...I guess butterscotch sounds more appealing, to answer your question."

"_Oh, I see. Thank you very much._"

There was a snapping sound, and she was gone. Ginger turned her gaze to one wall, noting a sign on it that read:

"**3 out of every 4 rocks recommend that you push them.**"

_Whatever that means..._

She continued towards the rock itself...

And the phone rang again.

_Already?_

Maybe she'd forgotten to say something, so she picked up again.

"Is that you?" the human clarified.

"_Yes, Ginger, dear. "Erm...You do not DISLIKE cinnamon, do you? I know what your preference is, but...Would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?_"

"Well...on its own, I might. I've read that the stuff is pretty bitter on its own."

"_Oh. Well, what if, say it were mixed in with butterscotch?_"

"Sounds a lot more appetizing."

"_Oh, does it? Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for being patient, by the way._"

And Toriel was gone again.

Ginger made her way over to the rock. Just beyond it was a pressure plate, and the floor connecting the rock and the plate looked particularly smooth and slippery.

The human pushed against the boulder; the floor allowed it to move surprisingly easily, and the minute the rock pressed down on the pressure plate, something somewhere in the walls made a clicking sound, and the spikes retreated back into the floor. She had just passed them when another one of the small mothlike creature approached her again.

She wasn't particularly intimidated by them; they didn't seem like they could harm a fly. As a matter of fact, she almost sympathized them for their meekness.

But then again, the Froggits hadn't appeared to be very strong at first, so she thought it wise to still be cautious.

"Um...Hey there, little fella," she greeted. The creature turned pink with embarrassment.

"I-I'm not that little!" he stammered.

"Dude, you're no bigger than my hand."

"I...I-I..."

The monster fluttered backwards against the far wall. It looked like a moth being pawed at by a rowdy bobcat kitten.

"P-please...Please don't hurt me."

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just passing through."

"Oh..."

It fluttered aside for the human to pass through the door.

"So, what's your name, huh?"

"M-me? It-I-I'm a Whimsun. Why?"

"Really? Never heard of those before. Just for future reference; I ran into one of your buddies a while back and I wasn't sure what he was."

"O-oh. Okay, ah...Bye, human!"

He flew off in a hurry, obviously wanting to get the confrontation over with. Were all Whimsun that timid? It certainly made it hard to hold a conversation with them.

Ah, well...It's not the end of the world.

Ginger kept going, and just when she entered the next room...

The phone.

_What now, Toriel?_

She picked up, hoping that she wouldn't sound annoyed at the monster, but this seemed a bit excessive; she'd called three times already within a two-minute period, asking for almost suspiciously specific information.

"Hello?"

"_Hello, dear. I'm just making sure, but...You do not have any allergies, do you?_"

Ginger made somewhat of a face.

"Uh...No? Why are you asking me this?"

"_Huh? Why am I asking? Oh, no reason. No reason at all._"

She was about to state that she thought the monster was up to something, but she was gone before the human could say anything else.

_Allergies...What does that have to do with anything...?_

Ginger went farther down the next room, and the puzzle was...

"Ah...Aw, racdrops," she swore.

The entire floor was cracked. No way she could maneuver any easy way around this one. Of course, NOW would have been the time to call Toriel, wouldn't it?

At least there was a stairway leading to the lower floor she could use instead.

She climbed down...and realized that, among the piles of leaves, there was no entryway to the other side of the room in sight. Great...

But she did note that the leaves appeared to be positioned in a very specific manner, forming a bare path beneath where the cracks in the ceiling seemed to be just a bit smaller. Perhaps this counted as another puzzle?

If the leaves were positioned over the more cracked areas, perhaps it meant that the bare path was the one she should take on the floor above so that she not fall through. The path was somewhat difficult to memorize, but the good news was that, if she did end up falling through the floor, she would end up on a pile of leaves, which would cushion the fall, which was only eight feet to begin with; not overwhelmingly high.

She been far higher off the ground before, anyway, but, then again, that was when she had wings.

Surprisingly, it only took her two tries, and her first attempt, she didn't get very far before failing-and falling-anyway, so it wasn't a huge waste of her time.

_Glad that's finished with..._

She was just about to leave the room when a third Whimsun jumped her, nearly causing her to fall backward onto the cracked floor.

"AH!"

"I...I did it. I-I scared a human!" the creature exclaimed, apparently happy with itself for the accomplishment.

Ginger, on the other hand, never thought she'd be irked by one of these timid beings, but she found this to have proven itself false.

"Oh, yeah?" she sneered, a devilish look on her face.

"H-hey. What's with that look? Oh no...No, no no no no no, don't hurt meeeee!"

The monster fluttered across the cracked floor in a panic; hopefully, that would serve a good lesson for scaring her.

When she finally stepped into the next room, Ginger sat back down; she needed a bit of a break after everything that had just happened, and she hoped to Glaux that the last thing to occur would be a monster going after her while she rested. Individually, the monsters down here weren't very strong, but the number of them was getting to be overwhelming.

She just hoped that it wouldn't be long before she reached the house again.

But she promised herself that she would get through all of this and find a way back to the surface.

And she was filled with **DETERMINATION.**

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Me: This story is probably not going to be very good and I'm only doing it for fun.  
Story: *gets two follows, two favorites and a positive review within the first 2 days of publishing it*  
Me:  
**_

_***surprised Pikachu face***_

_**I'm really enjoying this. Hope you guys are too!**_


	5. Chapter 3: More Puzzles

"It's weird...looking down and not seeing any talons."

She'd spent the last few minutes pondering what else humans were capable of, besides decent jumps; without any sharp natural weapons such as claws and beaks, they relied on crafting their own from scratch, each for different purposes; swords for slicing, spears for skewering, axes for chopping...Humans had come up with a very vast array of tools to assist them, and they were good at the art of craftsmanship.

But owls, especially those in the Owl Kingdoms, could craft weapons as well, although that was usually the only thing they made, and not so much tools for other things; being skilled hunters, and able to make a home out of nothing more than a big enough tree hollow, they weren't as dependent on technology as humans were. Besides a hammer and tongs for smithing weapons, there weren't many outright "tools" owls used regularly.

In her eyes, she had lost several of her best advantages, so she decided that, in time, she would have to make up for it somehow.

"Alright...time to get back to business."

Ginger got back onto her feet, then proceeded to push the rock in the middle onto its plate, and when she turned around to face the one to the left of it...

It was another monster, she assumed...though it didn't look much like a sentient creature. It was nothing more than a small, gelatinous blob of some sort. Did it even acknowledge her presence?

It stopped for a moment, as though it did know she was indeed there. Ginger wasn't sure if it would attack her, so she decided to say something, just in case.

"Eh...don't mind me, I'm just going about my business. Nothing to see here."

As though the blob understood, it turned its amorphous form and hopped across the floor, making a somewhat sickening "**squish**" with each landing. Ginger noted that the monster...didn't smell very pleasant.

_Never mind,_ she thought as she pushed the second rock over to where it belonged, and then made her way to the final one. To her surprise, when she attempted to shove it, it wouldn't budge.

And to her even greater surprise...

"Whoa, there, pardner! Who said you could just push me around, _hmm?_"

She stepped back, alarmed. The voice had come right from the rock itself, but no mouth was visible anywhere. Was this rock...actually another monster?

"Um...hi, there? What kinda monster are you?"

"Well, I'm a rock, can'tcha see?"

"Just a rock...You, uh...got a name?"

"N'aw. Never did much need one."

A talking rock. Now she'd seen just about everything.

It was then that she recalled the sign in a previous room; the first one where she'd encountered a puzzle of a similar caliber.

"**3 out of every 4 rocks recommend you push** **them.**"

Now she knew what that really meant.

"Well, uh...Mr. Rock. I hate to bother you, but in order to finish up this puzzle, would you mind moving down just a bit for me? It'll be quick, I promise."

"So you're ASKIN' me to move over? Well, okay. Just for you, pumpkin."

And the rock moved down towards the plate...but didn't quite get there before he stopped.

"Uh...I meant onto the pressure plate, but you've got the idea."

"You want me to move some more? Alrighty, then. How's this?"

And he moved the rest of the way onto the plate. The spikes ahead retreated back into the floor.

"Great. Now just stick around there until I cross the spikes. Thanks for the assistance, Mr. Rock."

"Ah, you don't need to 'Mr. Rock' me."

"You said you don't have a name, though."

"Well, how 'bout I leave that one up to you, kiddo?"

"Ah...Okay...How about something like..."

She thought for a moment.

"Something like...'Dwayne?'"

"'Dwayne,' huh? I like it; sounds like a name for a rock, alright. How'd you come up with that?"

"I dunno; first thing to come to mind, I guess."

"Well, you best be on your way. Don't wanna be a burden."

"Will do. And thanks again, Dwayne."

She hurried across the spike holes, then entered the next room. It was very small, and there were no visible puzzles; the only things in there were a tiny little table with what looked like a wedge of cheese sitting on it, and...

It was another one of those shimmering little stars. Ginger approached it curiously, wondering if she'd learn anything else from it if she inspected it further.

She reached her hand out at it again, knowing that it wouldn't hurt her; she wondered if she could pick it up. But the moment her hand brushed across it...

***Ruins-Mouse Hole**

***File Saved**

_There it goes again...What does that even mean? And...Mouse Hole?_

She turned around and looked down at the bottom of the wall; there was indeed a mouse hole there. She peered inside. While it was too dark to see, she did hear the tiny inhabitant.

"_Squeak..._"

She wondered, assuming it would eventually come out, if she could catch it by surprise and snag it for a light snack; she was getting hungry. But...

The chance that Toriel might have put the cheese on the table for the mouse to eat made her hesitate with the idea; if this were the case, the monster might be upset. Plus, remembering yet again that she didn't have claws meant the kill would be prolonged, making the mouse suffer. When owls' claws snatched a mouse, vole, or the like, their powerful talons sunk right into them, the claws puncturing vital organs and the grip snapping their spines, making work of the unsuspecting creature in a sliver of a second; the felt virtually nothing. Human hands were far weaker, and lacked the sharp, black hooks on the tips that owls had; to kill a rodent, she'd probably have to resort to strangling it...not exactly quick and painless.

Eyeing the cheese on the table, she opted for that instead; she'd never had any, but if it was so popular among humans, there wasn't much reason to doubt it. And the wedge was about as big as the mouse in the hole itself, so it could surely spare some. Unfortunately, when she tried to lift the wedge off the table, it wouldn't budge, and if felt stiff and stale in her grasp.

Apparently, the cheese had been there so long it had stuck to the table, and more so, it was dark and dry with age and exposure. It even sported a fine layer of dust over the top of it; not something she'd like to put in her mouth.

"Oh, forget it," she muttered, her hopes dashed and her hunger left unquenched.

She left the room, hoping she could find something to eat around these Ruins eventually, and directly in front of her...

There was...something lying down on the pile of leaves. Something white, and ever so slightly transparent. Ginger approached it; the entity didn't appear physical. It was like a phantom, a scroom...

A ghost.

"...ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...(are they gone yet)...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..."

But why was it saying "Z" over and over again? Was it even asleep?

The being was in her way, though; she wondered if she could just pass right through it, since it appeared to be a non-physical entity, but she hadn't anticipated a lot of the things that had happened to her so far down here. Could she, perhaps, lift the ghostly creature and move it more to the side?

She figured it was worth a try; better than stepping on it, if it did turn out to be solid. She carefully tried to slide her hands underneath the creature to roll it over...

And it bolted right up!

The specter was about a foot shorter than her, though it floated a few inches above the ground, giving it a taller look. Ginger expected the creature to be mad for disturbing it, but...

It looked a lot more gloomy than angry.

"...ohhhhhh...was I in your way?...ohhhhhh.."

The monster didn't seem up for much of a fight, yet it still aimed a series of white projectiles at her, just as she'd seen several Froggits do. Yet instead of flies, they streamed out of the ghost's eyes like giant tears.

"What the-..."

Ginger didn't ask too many questions, preoccupied with dodging the summoned ammunition. But when it ceased, she decided to speak, her mind now free to comprehend.

"Uh...Hey, there, bud," she said to it, managing a smile. "Look, uh...Sorry if I upset you. I was just passing by, and...I wasn't expectin' you."

"...i'm sorry I got in your way...ohhhhhh.."

"No, no, it's fine. You can go back to doin' your thing if you want right after a I pass through the leaves."

"...heh..."

She could just barely see the monster's mouth tun up, just a tad.

"Hey, there," she cheered him. "That's the 'spirit.'"

"...heh heh...I get it...because i'm a ghost..."

"So you are, huh? I though you looked kinda like one, and I was just makin' sure. Name?"

"...my name?"

"You got one, pal?"

"...Napstablook."

"Huh...Interesting. You know, Nabstablook, a couple rooms down, I met a rock. Like, a literal talking rock. He said he didn't have a name, so he asked me to take it upon myself and give him one."

"...what'd you call him?"

"'Dwayne.' How 'bout that?"

"...heh...Dwayne...heh heh heh..."

"Yeah, it's pretty funny."

"...hey...you...you wanna see something?"

"What?"

"...here...let me try..."

Another stream of tears came out of the specter's eyes...but they flowed UP instead of down and forward. And they accumulated on the top of Napstablook's head, forming...

A top hat?

"...I call it 'dapper blook.'...do you like it?"

"Whoa!" he human exclaimed, quite obviously impressed. "Well, HAT'S something I wasn't expecting! Not bad, man."

"ah...oh, gee..."

The monster's ghostly white face gained just a bit of color, and it turned away, flattered by the praise.

"...you know..." he continued. "...I usually come here to the Ruins because there's nobody around...but today I met somebody nice..."

"Well, if you plan to meet up with her some time, I wish you the best of luck."

"heh...oh...i'm rambling again, aren't I?...I'll get out of your way, now...ohhhhhh..."

Nabstablook didn't hover away, rather he just seemed to...fade. Did he turn invisible and leave? Probably; ghosts could make themselves known and unknown whenever they pleased, so it was said. But she'd never been to the Penninsula of the Spirit Woods to confirm this...

It didn't matter though; everything had gone well; enjoyable, even.

She passed over the leaves, seeing a dead-end room directly ahead and a longer passage to her left. Not caring what might be in the dead-end, she continued up the path. The next room lead to a long corridor, and the three Froggits she'd interacted with since the first one stood there, croaking, speaking amongst each other. They didn't pursue her as she passed through, so she gave them all a nod of acknowledgement and an appreciative smirk. She was just passing into the next room when the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"_Hello, it's me again, dear. I...have just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. Just so you are aware, there are probably a lot of things scattered around here and there._"

"Oh, really?"

"_Yes. If you like, you can pick some of them up for yourself, but don't carry any more than you need; someday, you might find something that you really like, and you will surely want to leave room in your pockets for that._"

"Like, what kind-"

But the monster had already hung up. Ginger didn't worry about it much, and she would figure it out when she came across something.

The next room had a few different cracked spots along the walls, and there were narrow stairways leading down to different rooms. The entry leading into the next was blocked off, so she figured she'd have to find some sort of switch somewhere. The human wondered if here were other hidden rooms beneath the cracked flooring, and she stepped to the right, pushing her foot down on the second spot on the right to test her hypothesis.

And it proved to be true.

It wasn't a long fall, only a foot longer than she was tall, so, presently, she stepped all the way in, landing on the pile of leaves. And there on the pile's edge was...

"Nabstablook?"

"...i've fallen down a hole...now I can't get up. go on without me...wait. ghosts can fly, can't they?...oh well."

"Hey, wait, there, buddy. Do you happen to know how I solve this puzzle in here?"

"...the room right across from me has a switch...I know that because i've been here so many times before...it's quiet...ohhhh...i'm in your way again, aren't I?"

"No, napstablook, you're-"

But the ghost faded away again before she could finish. He was an odd fellow, Ginger had to say, but he seemed pleasant enough. She followed his advice, doing the same to the room across from them and successfully finding the switch, then ascending back onto the upper floor via the stairs.

And there was another monster right in front of her when she came back up.

One that, despite its short stature, looked particularly frightful.

"HEY!"

The human was taken aback; the round creature had a mouth full of sharp teeth, and its single, enormous eye gawked at her eerily. And, frankly, she was staring at it with the same look.

"...What're you lookin' at?" it sneered, sending a few strange-moving projectiles her way. She was able to dodge them thanks to their low speed, but the way the bullets seemed to move as though they were swimming through the air nearly served as a good distraction.

"Hey, there, pal. I'm not looking for any trouble. I'm just passing by."

"Then, what's with the big eyes? Is this one a problem to you?"

"You took me by surprise, number 1. Number 2, I've been living on the surface my whole life and I've never seen anything like most of you monsters; especially you and that...moldy-smelling blob back there. Ah, no offense, though; I've got some things to get used to, is all."

"...Fair argument. Alright, I'll leave you to it."

The monster turned and walked away. Ginger kept herself from staring at it; this monster was certainly the strangest one so far. At least she knew what to expect now in the event she ran into one or more of its brethren.

_Just don't gawk at those ones...That's **their** job._

She was about to continue, but something on the ground caught her attention before she could turn around.

It looked like a small handful of gold coins; they each featured what looked to be the face of some sort of horned monster.

"Hey! Hey, fella!" she called. Fortunately, the monster hadn't left earshot yet.

"What's the big deal? And I have a name, by the way; it's 'Loox,' not 'fella."

"Yeah, you dropped something!"

"What? Oh...Keep it. It was takin' up space in my pockets, anyway."

"What...but you're not wearing any pa-"

"Don't question everything, alright? Some things are best left unexplained. Anyway, in case you're interested, you could probably use some of that for the spider bake sale goin' on in the room across the leaf pile back the other way; it's been there for god-knows how long, and I don't think they're closin' up shop any time soon."

"'Spider bake sale?'"

She put extra emphasis on the word "spider."

"You got a problem with that?"

"Uh..."

"Just take my word for it."

Loox turned again and left. Ginger scooped up the gold; it was heavy. Was it _real_ gold? It sure looked the part.

_Well...I won't complain._

She backtracked through the room and down the hallway, passing by the three Froggits again. When she got to the room she had thought was a dead end, she grinned and read the sign across from the two webs.

"**Spider Bake Sale**"  
"**All proceeds go to real spiders.**"

"Let's see what we got here..."

The prices were displayed on the wall in between the two webs.

"**Spider Donut: 7G**"  
"**Spider Cider: 18G**"

She scanned over the handful of gold she had; only five.

The human groaned; her hunger was getting the best of her. Owls had it easy; just snatch a mouse and be on your way, but _nooo,_ for some obscure reason, she just HAD to have been turned into a human, didn't she? She wondered how she'd ever taken for granted her lifetime of free meals, now apparently having to deal with BUSINESS in order to feed herself. It might not have been a dream, but she knew it was no doubt a nightmare.

She turned to leave, frustrated.

"Hey, pal."

"_Gyah!_"

It was another Loox, firing up another one of its flowy attacks.

"Alright, let me ask you something," she said to it as she avoided the slow-moving bullets. "What's the whole deal with you needing my **SOUL **to break the Barrier?"

"You're the last one we need," he responded. "We've accumulated six human SOULs so far, and we need just one more to break it forever."

"So, you've already killed six other humans already."

"You could say that. You don't sound very alarmed by it."

"Well...I could care less about them, really."

Despite her situation, she didn't see humans as her own kind; she'd be far more disturbed by the image of a dead bird than one of a human corpse.

"You guys don't seem very eager to kill me, though. Why?"

"Really, we wish there was another way to go about this, but there isn't one. We don't like the killing part; we just want to live on the surface...well...with one exception..."

"...One exception?"

"In the case you ever leave these Ruins, keep lookin' over your shoulder for the Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Captain of the Royal Guard?" Ginger repeated. "How, uh...What's he like?"

"'She,'" Loox corrected. "And she's not just a monster...She's a six-foot BEAST. And she hates humans with a burning passion."

The way he said it made it sound like he had every right to fear the Captain as the human did.

"...Noted."

"Alright, see ya later. Hey, and take this."

The monster tossed some things at her; she expected it to be another kind of attack, but when she caught it...

Another five gold.

"Those spiders...Everything's ridiculously priced."

The Loox turned and left the room. Ginger's appetite wavered somewhat as she reflected on the monster's warning; the Captain of the Royal Guard? She was sure she wouldn't want to run into her in a dark alley. And further more, if there was a Royal Guard, it meant there was a monarchy, at least consisting of a king, and maybe a queen. If the Royal Guard Captain was really that fearsome, what would the king and queen be like? For a long time, the most imposing image she could conjure was that of the Lord High Tyto himself, in all his battle-worn magnificence, mask, battleclaws and all. But a king and queen of monsters? The mere thought made Ginger shudder.

At least Toriel was a far cry from such a thing; despite her being able to get somewhat...attached quite quickly, she meant only goodwill towards her.

The sound of her stomach growling cut her train of thought short. Now that she had more than enough gold, she could get herself one of those spider donuts. She placed it right in front of the hole in the wall next to the smaller web and called to see if there was anybody inside; the thought of spiders making baked goods to sell was odd, but then again, a lot of things appeared to be sentient down here; frogs, rocks...flowers, even.

"Ugh...Flowey. Be prepared to be stepped on next time we meet," she threatened, in spite his absence.

She saw something come out of the hole; it wasn't one, but two particularly large wolf spiders, which wrapped their long legs around the seven pieces of gold and dragged it inside. They were quick to emerge with what was certainly the donut she'd purchased; it was baked to a medium golden brown, and coated with a semi-clear glaze.

"Ah...thanks for that."

One of the wolf spiders waved its front leg at her as the two retreated back into the hole.

She bit into the baked delicacy; it, of course, was sweet to taste, but she didn't expect the somewhat peculiar flavor and unnatural crunch, being almost like a cross between a cricket and a vole. This was the last thing she expected a donut to taste like, but she wasn't about to complain; crickets and voles were both favorites of Barn Owls, and she was glad to find that her taste hadn't changed along with her physicality.

Ginger looked at the bite she'd made in the pastry...What was that sticking out of it? It almost looked like a...

Spider's leg?

Then. she remembered; a lot of spiders were cannibals, a fact she'd gotten from her fellow Barn Owl, Uklah, just the previous day, as a matter of fact. She'd gifted her with this seemingly useless trivia fact when two small brown spiders skittered across the branch they were eating their muskrats on, one in hot pursuit of the other.

"Okay, Uklah. First, how do you know this? And second, WHY is this relevant?" she'd asked her.

"Well, among quite a few species, after mating, the females usually...eat the males. I guess it's ritualistic for them? And to answer your first question, I read it in a book about spiders once; one nipped me on the middle talon and I was making sure it wasn't one of those Brown Recluse things...which it wasn't to my good fortune."

"Aren't those the ones that..."

"That's right. The Glauxian Monks have been trying to conjure up a proper cure for he bite as of late, so I hear, but in the mean time, the only real effective treatment is amputation."

"Uklah...I'm eating."

"So am I?"

"Is this a proper dinner conversation topic?"

"I dunno? How about we talk about the time you smeared yourself with berry juice to make yourself look like a Spix's Macaw, instead, if that's what you prefer?" she'd joked.

Ginger had nearly gone after her for the remark, but seeing how much she was enjoying herself, she let Uklah fly off laughing uninterrupted.

She sighed; would she ever see her, or any of her fellow Tytos, again? Even if she did end up escaping the mountain, what would she do when she was out? Would she turn back into a Barn Owl? If so, then returning to her kindred would be easy. But she was pessimistic about the possibility. What would she do if she were still a human upon returning to the surface? And was there any way for her to change back besides the unbacked thought that she would turn back upon exiting the Barrier?

Ginger shook her head; if she were to plague her mind with thoughts such as these now, she'd be torturing herself. Best to keep going, and cross the bridge when she got to it.

She finished off the Spider Donut; it wasn't very filling, despite its favorable taste; odd for something so cakey. And it was strange, but the tender spot on her arm from where the Froggit had landed one of its bullet attacks seemed to have lost its ache.

"...Hm," she muffled curiously, swallowing what was left of it before returning to the last puzzle she'd solved and passing through the now unblocked doorway. The next room had three pillars situated in it, each with a differently colored switch behind it; one blue, one red, and one green. Ginger wasn't sure what they did, but there was only one way to find out.

Before she began haphazardly pressing switches, Ginger looked up at the plaque on the wall.

"**The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective.**"

So...did that mean that the next room was the same as this one, but rotated? Interesting.

She continued further down, searching for some clues as to which switches she need press, turning with the room and finding herself in the prementioned "rotated" room. She scwered the area, and, soon enough, came across a plaque on the wall, similar to the last one. But what the text inscribed on it meant was blatantly more obvious.

"**If you can read this, please press the blue switch.**"

That simple? Well, if the whole puzzle was going to be like this, she'd have it done in little to no time at all.

She obeyed the sign, pressing the blue switch behind the first pillar she'd passed. She heard a clicking sound coming from somewhere; good. That meant she'd done it right.

She was about to venture into the next room to for further instructions, but before she could enter, the human was jumped by...

Not one.

Not two.

But a good THREE monsters at the same instance!

She recognized one as yet another Loox, but the other two were ones she'd never come across before; one looked vaguely like some sort of earthy-yellow plant root with an odd smirk, and the other looked very much like a beetle, standing on its skinny hind legs.

She was less concerned about the bug, and had more reason to be suspicious of the root's mischievous grin.

"What's with the freaky smile?"

"Heheh...Try your hand at this, human," the plant told her.

All three of them sent up an array of white missiles, each of different shapes and sizes; a group attack.

"What in-HEY. CUT-STOP THAT!"

The projectiles were coming in fast, and it was near-impossible to didge every one. A few of them hit her, causing the same, sharp pain she'd experienced before to be sent up in the impact zone.

And the root sent out a green one.

One that Ginger had become to dazed by the attack to notice before it was too late.

"Oh, no-"

But instead of causing pain upon impact, it actually RELIEVED some of it...What?

"Not bad for a human!" the plant praised. "Remember, human; green magic heals instead of harms!"

Saying this, the sentient vegetable bounced off.

"Well...there he goes," the Loox noted. "Don't mind Vegetoid; he's an oddball."

"FILTHY SINGLE MINDER," the bug sneered at her.

"What does that even mean!?" she snapped back.

"LEGION! WE ARE LEGION!"

They only responded with another flurry of attacks. Fortunately, with the Vegetoid gone, the bullets were fewer, and she managed to maneuver around them, using all the skill she had as the klutzy human she was.

_I'm getting better at this, at least._

"You gonna go see what you're plant pal's up to?"

"Yeah, whatev'z. You and Migosop have fun."

He followed after the Vegetoid.

"Phew, there gone!" the insect cheered to himself. "Nothing like alone time!"

And he proceeded to do somewhat of a dance before the human.

"Should I...go now?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah! And, uh, forget what I said about you being a 'filthy single minder.' They think I'm out to take over the world, but really, I just try to impress people whenever I'm around them. All I really want is to be alone and do my on thing; just me, myself and I."

"Oh...um...okay."

"Hey, take this for the trouble; as a human, you're gonna need it for the rest of the Underground!"

The Migosop pulled something out, seemingly out of nowhere, and left it at the human's feet before leaping off like a grasshopper. At the base of Ginger's shoes was...

A whopping 11 gold!

"Hey! HEY!" she called out to the but monster as it hopped out of view. "Thanks for this!"

She got no response, but she was loud enough that he had undoubtedly heard her.

_Okay. Back to business._

She went in through the doorway and searched for another plaque. Sure enough, she found one, right inside the doorway.

"**If you can read this, please press the red switch.**"

She approached the red switch behind the pillar. Another one of those gelatinous monsters crossed her path, and acknowledged her by emitting a "**squish**" of a greeting before turning and sloshing forward again. Ginger figured that the creatures had the minds of slugs; not exactly sentient, and possessing primitive instincts, but very much alive; interesting.

Triggering the mechanism made another clicking sound go off somewhere. Ginger assumed that the next room would be the last one; they seemed to rotate ninety degrees with each one she entered, so the next should finish the circle.

The next sign was on the far wall.

"Let me guess..."

"**If you can read this, please press the green switch.**"

Thought so.

Said switch was right behind her, and she pressed it accordingly. The clicking noise sounded louder this time around. Had she finished the puzzle?

She exited the puzzle room, and came to a branching hallway; one she recognized quite well. This was the area just outside of the house, just beyond the tree. Ginger, on a whim, decided to explore the other end of the hallway, which the goat monster had claimed to be a dead end, stepping over the green vines flowing along the floor that gave the royal purple walls a touch of extra color. The hall lead into another room, where yet another Froggit was standing, minding its own business.

"Hey there, fella," she greeted it. "What's past this room here, do you know?"

"Beyond this point is a balcony overlooking the Ruins," it replied. "Nothing much besides the view."

"Well, I think I'll go see what it looks like, anyway; I could use the sight of something like that."

"Whatever suits you...***ribbit***"

Ginger passed the white frog into the balcony and looked out into the beyond.

_Wow..._

The architecture of the Ruins was crude and medieval, and the only color she could see across the stretch was purple; a color with close ties to royalty, she realized. Perhaps these abandoned buildings had once been occupied by a monarchy...or THE monarchy, having assumed there was one established in the present. Ginger leaned against the purple dyed steel railing; never had she imagined she could feel so high above ground when she was so deep within it. Irony...Bittersweet irony.

She turned back around, ready to return, when she caught sight of something on the floor to her left.

Something was lying on the ground. Ginger went to pick up the object, and inspected it in her grasp; it looked like a small, fairly simple hunting knife, though the dull blade was made of plastic instead of metal. The only thing it could probably cut through was a cake.

But Ginger decided that she liked it; the plastic knife wasn't anything like a set of battleclaws, but it was the most she had for now.

Ginger got off the balcony, only to be ambushed by a pair of Vegetoids at the exit.

"Hello, human!" one of them cackled. "Care for some nutrition?"

"Eat your greens!" the other chanted.

Their array of attacks was...very strange-looking. The bullets looked like assorted vegetables bouncing around the battlefield.

As strange as they looked, they weren't very easy to dodge; Ginger found herself having trouble ducking underneath them as the sprang up, since as soon as she ducked, one came at her from the side. Mixed in with the white projectiles were just a few green ones, and the advice of a Vegetoid from earlier came back to the human.

"Green magic heals instead of harms!" it'd told her. And when she'd come into contact with it in the previous battle, it had relieved some of the pain the bullets had inflicted.

"So what you're saying is that I should try to hit the green bullets?"

"That's right!" the first one replied. "Alright, friend! I leave this one to you!"

The plant seemed to burrow into the stony ground and disappear from sight.

"Remember what he said!" it reminded, sending out another attack.

The amount of bullets had been halved thanks to the other one's absence, so Ginger found herself managing this attack more easily, and when the green bullets came into view, she didn't hesitate to run into them. The monsters were true to their word; the green attacks actually DID heal instead of harm, numbing and relaxing away the pain caused by wounds inflicted during previous battles.

"Excellent work, human! I must spread my gift to others, now, however. Until we meet again!"

The Vegetoid burrowed after his companion. Vegetoids struck Ginger as particularly odd; they had the most sneering, oozy voices, yet they seemed to want to offer nothing but a test for her to pass instead of a full-blown fight.

Ginger made her way back towards the center of the hall, turning up the path leading back to the house; Toriel would be in for a surprise.

Before she went in, though, she stopped...What would the monster think when she found out she'd been deliberately disobeyed? Then again, the reason she'd asked Ginger to stay put was her concern for her safety, and when she found that Ginger had very well been able to hold her own in the face of so many monsters, it'd make sense for her to be impressed.

And another thing; was Toriel even home, or was she of somewhere else in the Ruins?

_Only one way to find out,_ she said to herself, and she passed through, scanning over the bare branches of the old maple tree as she went underneath them.

"Oh, dear...That took longer than I thought it would..." she heard.

Ginger looked back toward the house; the monster was just outside the doors of the house, her white face conveying worry. She drew nearer to the tree, and was just about to give the human another call on her phone when she spied her, leaning her side against the tree. She immediately approached the human, looking quite shocked by her arrival.

"How did you get here, my child?" she questioned, noticing the small red mark on her arm where she'd been clipped by a bullet. "A-are you hurt?"

"I've been way worse than this, trust me. I even got myself a little help along the way."

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright...I do apologize, dear; I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible of me to try and surprise you like this..."

"...Surprise me?" the human questioned, looking skeptical.

"Oh...Err..." Toriel stammered; she'd said too much.

"Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer," she finally said, a smile spreading across her face. "Follow me back to the house, dear; you're in for something special!"

She started back to her house, Ginger lagging behind somewhat. The human approached the front door, and spied on the pile of leaves...

"Uh...Hey, Toriel?"

"Yes, dear, what is it?"

"What's that thing supposed to be?"

She pointed down at the small yellow star hovering just above the leaf pile.

"...On top of the leaf pile, you mean? Forgive me, but I do not see anything but the leaves themselves."

"That thing, right there," Ginger said, bending down to point from a closer distance. "I didn't know what it was, so I figured you would."

"My...my eyes must not have been as good as I once thought. I'm very sorry, dear, but I cannot see what you are addressing."

She couldn't see it; the thing was bigger than the fireball she'd conjured to sear Flowey with and she couldn't see it? How? Either the goat monster was going blind or...

Or Ginger was the only one who COULD see it? Was this possible? Then again, a lot of things were possible down here.

"Uh...Never mind it. I'll catch up; if you need to do anything else before I come back in, go ahead and do it, alright..."

"Well...Alright, dear. I'll wait for you."

Toriel re-entered the house, and Ginger stooped down over the star. She had a feeling she knew what would happen if she touched it.

***Ruins-Home**

***File Saved**

_Yep..._

If Toriel was unable to see the shimmering stars like she could, that meant that she probably didn't know about their existence in general; which meant that she'd have to figure out what the "File Saved" stuff meant by herself. At least it didn't seem particularly important; maybe she'd uncover some answers in a book somewhere, or the other monsters in the Ruins could fill her in with more information.

But in the mean time, she decided to stop worrying about it and go see just what the monster had done while she was away.

* * *

**A/N: Horray! The boring part's finally over!**

**Next chapter's gonna be a little more tense, and we're gonna delve a little bit deeper into the lore and the situation with save files, loading, resetting, etc...and more feels are on the way, so beware the onion-cutting ninjas!**


	6. Chapter 4: Run Away from Home

The somewhat dusty scent of the old house was completely overridden by the warm aroma wafting throughout from down the left hall. Toriel sniffed the air, then emitted a content sigh.

"Do you smell that?"

_Holy mother Siv. What IS that? It's incredible._

Ginger had never smelled anything as pleasant as it in her entire life.

"Yeah, I do. What's it coming from?"

"~Surprise! It's a butterscotch-cinnamon pie! And it's nearly done, I believe."

"Wow..." the human marveled, clearly impressed. "It's amazing..."

"I'm very glad you think so. I thought we might celebrate your arrival, so for the time being, I thought I would hold off on the snail pie."

"You can make 'em out of snails, too?"

"Why, yes," she responded, surprised that Ginger seemed so in-stride with the concept. "You...don't find this strange?"

"Strange? Why'd it be strange? Sounds delicious."

Toriel cocked her head; a human that liked snails? This was certainly a first.

"Well...From personal experience, I have concluded that most humans do not seem keen on the idea of eating snails. I can't imagine why; they're an absolute delicacy down here."

"Neither can I; they're picks, if I say so myself."

"Well...I must say, you had your own pleasant surprise for me, it seems! Come this way; there is something else I have to show you."

Ginger followed her back down the hall, and they stopped at a familiar-looking door; it was the room Ginger had found herself in when she awakened from her shock.

The monster opened the door and flicked the light switch, something Ginger had failed to find before the doorknob itself, and revealed what the inside looked like. The walls were a warm, shade of orange, accented by the matching area rug and birch wood floors. The other objects in the room she'd spied were clearer now; the lamp in the far corner, the wardrobe, the bookshelf, and the bed, the covers on which were the same, autumnal orange as the walls and rug, with darker patterns.

"This is going to be your room. I hope you like it, dear."

"This whole..."

"Yes, and everything in it is yours."

Ginger was without words; this was nearly too much for her to accept.

Toriel sniffed the air again.

"Is...something burning?" she said quietly, as not to alarm the human. "Um...Why don't you make yourself at home, Ginger?"

She left her and the room to themselves.

"...Okay...Let's, uh...see what we got here..."

The human went around inspecting things; she couldn't possibly accept everything in the room, especially when she left for the rest of the Underground, so she decided to only keep the things she could bring with her.

She noted a crudely drawn picture of a flower hung up by the lamp, the corners on which had yellowed and curled; it must have been hanging there for a long time. Beneath the picture was some sort of small chest. When Ginger opened it, it revealed a collection of shoes, in a vast disparity of shapes and sizes.

An interesting thought came to her mind; could humans weaponize shoes? Owls had essentially done just that with the invention of battleclaws by Theo all those centuries ago.

But she already had a decent-looking pair, so she shut the lid.

There was a shelving unit beside it; the top shelf was covered in some old knickknacks and small toys, and the bottom one sported an array of books.

Books! Perfect!

She skimmed over the titles, looking to see if any of them held any useful information.

"_The Littlest Echo Flower_"

"_If Snails Could Talk_"

"_Grumpy Cat and Scaredy Dog_"

"_Peek-a-Boo with Fluffy Bunny_"

"Ugh..."

CHILDREN'S books; not what she was looking for. It looked like they hadn't been touched in the longest time, so maybe they'd been long forgotten. At least, she hoped; Toriel had been more than kind to her since her arrival, but if the monster decided she wanted to read her any of these, that was where she would draw the line. All of the books seemed rather dusty; perhaps Toriel had once had children herself? If she did, she had yet to meet them if they had since left home.

At least the wardrobe was more her taste; it was full of striped shirts and solid-colored bottoms, and the drawers were full of socks and under armor. The shirts were just as varied as the shoes; some had long sleeves, others short, some were thin cotton, some were thick wool, but they all had one thing in common; stripes. Some were yellow on green, one was purple on blue, another pine green on red, and one was even a stark white on black.

She decided that she liked the purple sweater with the blue stripes; maybe she could take that along in case she needed it. The human pulled it off the hanger and laid it down across the bedsheets.

The chest at the foot of the bed had some more toys in it; mostly stuffed animals...and stuffed monsters, it looked like. She recognized one as a Froggit. Nothing particularly useful, except...

Some odd-looking brown fabric caught Ginger's attention as she rummaged through the toy chest. She pulled it out to examine it.

An old, small, and somewhat worn messenger bag.

The human beamed; this was a lucky strike, if she ever did see one. How did this end up in a toy chest? One thing was for sure; this would certainly come in handy during her expedition.

She placed it on the bed beside the sweater, then looked over the two items, proud of her accomplishment. For the time being, her work here was done; she'd be sure to thank the monster for her generosity before she left.

Ginger nodded, satisfied, and left the room, making her way past the entry hall and into the living and dining area. Toriel was in there, sitting in a large, comfy-looking chair, her nose stuck in a book. The human's approaching footsteps finally made her tear her eyes away from the pages.

"Oh, hello! Done looking around for now?"

"For now."

"Well, dear, the pie is done, but it has yet to cool down. In the mean time, would you perhaps like to hear about this book I am reading?"

"What's it about?"

She tilted her head to read the title.

"'_72 Uses for Snails'_, huh?"

"How about an interesting snail fact?"

"Sounds fine with me."

"Let's see. Here's one. Did you know that snails sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature?"

"Really? That's...weird."

"Apparently so; it does sound quite strange, does it not?"

"It does...Ah..."

Ginger had only just noticed the immense bookshelf covering the wall to the right of the fireplace. It towered nearly all the way to the ceiling, each shelf generously stocked with books. And these weren't picture books like the one's she'd seen in the bedroom. These were cookbooks, well thought-out novels, guide books, almanacs, and...

"_Monster History: The History and Legends of Our Kind_"

This. THIS was what she'd been looking for.

"See something you'd like to read?"

"You, uh...don't mind me skimming through some of these old books you got here, do you?"

"Not at all. Just make sure to put them back when you are finished. I am going to check the pie."

"Will do..."

She immediately pulled the history book from the shelf, opened it to the first page and began to read.

"_INTRODUCTION:_"

"_Trapped behind the Barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named..."Home." As great as our king is, he's pretty lousy with names._"

So she'd been right; there was indeed a monarchy down here. But who, exactly, was the King of the Monsters? She kept reading.

"_Asgore, our king, renewed the people's hope. He carried the promise that, one day, we would break the Barrier and be free to dwell on the surface once again._"

King Asgore; an imposing name. Fit for someone of such high authority.

"_Breaking the Barrier, however, is no small feat. To shatter the Barrier forever, a power equivalent to seven human SOULs is required. And the only way to obtain a human SOUL is through taking the life of another human. As much as the humans hurt us, they did so only out of fear. Revenge is out of question. On the day which the Barrier is destroyed, our hope is to live peacefully alongside humans once again, as we did all those years ago. If a human should ever fall through the Barrier, we shall treat them as no more or less than our own kin._"

That was where the passage ended.

"_THE WAR OF HUMANS AND MONSTERS_"

It was going into another chapter. She decided to stop for now; she had a basic idea of exactly what had happened from the first passage; humans and monsters went to war with one another at some point in history, and the victorious humans trapped the monsters underground with a magical Barrier, and now the monsters were all living down here. Their king at the time, Asgore, made a promise to free them.

_But what in the world happened since the time of Asgore?_

The one thing that didn't align with what she'd experienced down here was the statement that the monsters only wanted to continue living peacefully with humans, including any that happened to fall down here. Most of the monsters in the Ruins hadn't hesitated to attack her, despite their reluctance. And they'd said that she was the last SOUL required to shatter the Barrier, which had to mean that six other humans had not only fallen, but died some time before her arrival. Was there a new order? Had Asgore's old policy been overthrown by the newer leaders?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she spied movement from the corner of her eye. Toriel was bending down beside her, placing a slice of her confectionary creation down before the human, accompanied by a fork, a napkin, and the plate it was on.

"It's cooled down, now. You can eat it while you read, but please make sure you do not make a mess of yourself," she said to her before sitting back in her chair and picking up her own book about snails again.

Ginger took the plate up off the floor and took a good look at the pie slice; it was just barely steaming, and the bottom of the platter felt well-heated on the palm of her hand. She cut off the tip of the slice with her fork and gave it a try; it was warm, smooth as the butter it was made from, and delightfully sweet with just the faintest hint of spice. The pie custard practically melted away in her mouth and went down her gullet like pudding.

A culinary masterpiece.

Ginger could barely hold the corners of her mouth down; they threatened to form the biggest, goofiest-looking smile they could manage, which she knew all too well would not be a flattering image. She cleared her throat, then commented.

"This is the work of a master chef, Toriel; you've outdone yourself."

"Oh, well, thank you very much," she answered, looking back up from her reading. "Um...I just want you to know how glad I am to have you here, child. There are so many old books I would like to share, and places to show you, like my favorite bug-hunting spot."

"Bug-hunting spot?"

"Why yes; I usually go there to see if I can find any snails for my cooking. They do sell snails in a lot of places here in the Underground, but I think they're always better when one collects them right from the wild. It's actually not far from where you first fell; just beyond the first cavern. They like to hide away in the damp parts of the cave."

"Yeah; if they're out in the dry air, they'll die, isn't that right?"

"Quite right. And I've even prepared a curriculum for your education."

"Hubba-whah?"

Ginger barely breathed her confused reply, and it failed to fall upon the monsters ears.

"This may come as a surprise to you, but I have always wanted to be a teacher...Well...actually, perhaps that isn't very surprising."

A curriculum for her education? This monster didn't really think she was going to keep her here in the Ruins to school her, did she?

"Still, though, I am glad to have you living here."

"_Living_" here. The human's suspicions were immediately confirmed; Toriel had every intention to keep Ginger here and raise her as her own; a kind thought in general, but considering the circumstances, this was outrageous. She had no idea who Ginger really was, what she was really like, where she came from, anything, and she thought she could just take her in?

"Um...Toriel?"

"Is something the matter?"

The human sighed; she didn't want to go about this in an offensive manner, but it had to be said.

"I was just wondering..." she started, putting the pie slice aside. "You remember what I said about my, uh...profession, right?"

"Um...You said something about being here on business, right?"

"That's right. By now they're, you know...probably wondering where I've gone off to, and...well...I should really be finding my way back home soon."

"...Back home? But...This-"

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of this. Really I do; the puzzle help, the phone, the pie, everything. But I can't just stay here in the Ruins. They need me back up there, and if I just ignore that, then...well...That's not just lazy and irresponsible, it's...disloyal."

Disloyal. For reasons she couldn't quite comprehend, that word stung Toriel the most. It was almost as though the word itself were calling her out on something...but what it was, exactly, was just beyond her mind's reach.

But she couldn't comply; even if she did want her to leave, she knew it would be foolish to let her go out there, knowing...

"I...I have to go do something. Stay here, alright?"

Toriel closed her book, got up out her chair and made her way out of the living area with unnatural haste.

Something that Ginger noticed.

She knew something was up. All she knew was that Toriel wanted to keep her here with her.

And she couldn't let her do that, even if she did mean well. She had to find a way out of these Ruins.

Before the monster had a chance to hide the exit from her forever.

She turned and looked at the pie beside her; all of a sudden, she didn't feel very hungry anymore. And if she was going to try to leave, she almost felt guilty eating any more of it, even.

Ginger stood up, slid the history book back onto the shelf where she'd found it and made her way back to the bedroom to collect and pack the things she'd claimed; if, in any event, she found an exit while looking for the monster around the house and Ruins, she would have to be prepared for the trek. She felt a bit bad taking the things along, but it was more out of need than of want.

She wrapped her slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie in the napkin, then carefully folded the striped sweater around it to protect it in the messenger bag. And then she patted the toy knife in her pocket; if she rain into trouble, all she had to do was draw it and feign an attack, and it would hopefully ward off most attackers.

The human slung the bag over her shoulder, then decided to start looking for the monster. She eyed what she assumed was Toriel's room, and peered inside; nothing but her empty bed, desk and other belongings, so she turned away. The room beside it was locked.

"**ROOM UNDERGOING RENOVATIONS**"

She pressed her ear up against the door; no noise. Maybe Toriel had gone outside the house somewhere? She went out the front door and looked around the perimeter of the cottage; she was nowhere to be found there. As she turned to go back inside, her foot accidentally kicked the star on the pile of leaves outside the door.

***Ruins-Home**

***File Saved**

Maybe she could find out more about the glowing stars that were invisible to Toriel somewhere outside the Ruins; if they were there, and if she could interact with them, she couldn't possibly be the only one who was aware of their existance.

Ginger went back in the door, her eyes immediately falling upon the stairs leading down into what she assumed was the basement. Maybe she'd gone down there.

She descended down the stairway into what she believed was a basement. The corridors ahead were painted purple, just like the rest of the Ruins outside of the monster's house. And there, just ahead...

"...Toriel?"

She stiffened upon hearing the human call her name, then let out a forlorn sigh.

"...You wish to know how to return...'home'...do you not?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at the human.

She nodded lightly in response.

"...Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins; a one-way exit to the rest of the Underground..."

Silence reigned between them for an uncomfortably long time before Toriel spoke again.

And what she said was bone-chilling.

"I...I am going to destroy it...No one will ever be able to leave again." Now...be a good young lady and go upstairs."

The monster continued down the hallway, Ginger staring at her, wide-eyed with horror. She couldn't let this happen.

"...No..."

The word alone was enough to make Toriel stop dead in her tracks, and she looked back at her again. Ginger had an...unnerving expression on her face.

"I'm not going to let you do that," she said to her before approaching more.

"Ginger...Every human that falls down here meets the same fate," she said to her. "I have seen it again an again. They come...They leave...They die."

"I'm different," the human replied.

"...You naïve child...If you leave the Ruins...they...Asgore...will kill you."

Wait...Asgore...Wasn't he the king from the history books? Perhaps the new king had been named after the one from so long ago; there was no way it could be the same Asgore. The first one had to be long dead if he ruled over monsterkind before and during the War of Humans and Monsters.

"I am only protecting you, do you understand?" she continued. "...Go to your room."

Her voice was stern, yet not angry. Not yet, at least. Ginger continued to follow after her.

"Do not try and stop me," Toriel said to her. "This is your final warning."

She turned around the corner, and Ginger did the same, merely a few yards behind. At the end of the hall was a great stone door, the familiar emblem of the winged circle hovering above the three triangles displayed on it. The goat monster stood before it.

"You want to leave so badly?" she asked, her tone somewhat condescending. "...Hmph...You are just like the others."

"...That's where you're wrong," Ginger corrected. "I told you; I'm different. I'm more capable than they were. Faster. Smarter...Stronger."

"...You are a very determined young human, aren't you? There is only one way to settle this, you know."

Ginger braced herself for the worst; her gut-instinct was telling her exactly what would happen next.

"...Prove yourself...Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."

Toriel rose her hands...

And they immediately, spontaneously went up in flames.

_Oh, crap..._

The monster turned around and sent an array of flames across the short corridor, and they wavered around, threatening to ram head on into Ginger, then seeming as though they would rather go around. Ginger managed to maneuver around several, but one of the flaming projectiles grazed her arm, leaving the familiar, painful shoot, as well as an accompanying burn. This wasn't something she could solve by talking; she had to fight back.

She pulled the toy knife out of her pocket and cut the blade across her palm; the dull plastic blade couldn't have cut through her skin if she'd applied double the pressure she had. The sight of it barely made Toriel flinch. She spread her arms again, sending flames bouncing off the walls at sharp angles, a blank look in her eyes. This time, they were near unavoidable; most of them hit the human head on, but she wouldn't cease approaching.

Finally, the monster rose her arms and sent the flames coming down from off the ceiling; her sides were exposed, and Ginger, as quickly as she saw the opening, slid in for the strike, sliding her toy knife across Toriel's left side, with only the intention to stun.

But the sound of tearing cloth was not what she'd expected to hear.

Much less the tell-tale wet ripping sound of tearing flesh that accompanied it.

The next thing she knew, the monster had fallen to her knees; her robes were torn, her face had contorted with pain, and the royal violet fabric around the rip was running red.

She was bleeding. She was bleeding badly.

Ginger's eyes widened, horrorstruck. This was not at all what she'd intended.

"Toriel!"

"Urgh...You..._are_ stronger than I thought..."

The human bent down and tried to assess the wound; the gash cut deep into the monster's side. Too deep. She could have sworn she saw a rib poking through.

The sight of it was sickening.

"Listen to me..." Toriel told her, barely possessing the strength to speak. "If you go beyond this door...Keep walking as far as you can. Eventually, you will reach an exit."

"No, no no no, We gotta get you back to the house, first," the human replied, trying to lift the monster up over her shoulder. It was no use; she was too heavy, and she wasn't complying. It was almost as though she didn't even want to be helped.

"Come on...Get up...!"

"Don't...worry about me," she said to her in a feeble voice.

Toriel was holding her side, now; the blood spilling out was beginning to pool. That much blood loss was bad news, Ginger knew that much, and paired with the damage...

"...Asgore," the monster hissed through clenched teeth. "Do not let Asgore take your SOUL. His plan...cannot be allowed...to succeed..."

"...Toriel...I..."

"...Be good...won't you?"

The horrible realization hit her like a ton of boulders.

She was fatally wounded.

She was beyond help.

She was dying.

"I'm sorry..." the human gasped, choking back tears. "I'm so sorry..."

In spite of her sealed fate, Toriel managed a tender smile.

"...It's...alright...I..."

The arm holding her up gave way, letting her collapse onto the stone floor.

"...I...for...give...you..."

The monster released her final breath in a content sigh.

And to Ginger's horror, Toriel's body wavered, then dissembled into a cloud of dust, which scattered across the floor.

Something appeared out of the ashes; what looked like a white, upside-down heart, shaking where it stood. The human bent down to look at it...was that Toriel's...

Before she could inspect it, the soul cracked in two, then shattered.

Ginger fell to her own knees, landing in the pile of dust that was once Toriel. She sifted her hands through it and picked some up, perhaps hoping that she could reassemble the dust back into a monster; the white powder ran through her fingers.

"No..." the human denied, letting her tears spill freely. "...No..."

The monster had showed her the layout of the Ruins.

She'd taught her how to associate peacefully with the other monsters.

She'd have happily taken her in as her own.

She baked her a butterscotch cinnamon pie.

She tried to protect her.

And what had she done in return?

She ran a knife across her side, unknowing of how much damage it would actually deal.

She killed her.

"What have I done?" she croaked. "What have I done, what have I done, what have I done..."

She repeated it over and over, with the false hope that her own guilt would somehow undo her unforgiveable action. But she knew it was impossible.

"I wish I could go back," she lamented, scooping up the dust as though it was still her, and that she could still hear her apologies, her eyes shut tighter than they'd ever been. "I wish I could do this all over again. If I knew what was going to happen, I never would have...I never wanted this to happen. I wish I could go back, I wish I could. I really, really do..."

She opened her eyes to clear her vision, and...

She was in front of the house again.

"...What?"

She dried her eyes, then looked about in confusion; she wasn't seeing things, she was really back in front of Toriel's cottage.

But how? She'd been inside the house and down the hallway. How was she back here?

From the corner of her eye, she saw a shimmering light; it was that star on top of the leaf pile, right in front of her.

For some reason, it appeared to be shining ever so slightly brighter.

_Odd..._

Ginger went back into the house; maybe she'd gone outside without realizing it in her grief. She descended down the stairs, wiping away a stray tear; she wished she would be there to stop her, like she'd been before. Just so she could tell her she was sorry.

"...You wish to know how to return...'home'...do you not?"

The human turned pale. Toriel's voice rang throughout her ears like the phantom she thought she was seeing before her.

"...Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins; a one-way exit to the rest of the Underground..."

Something was wrong; she'd already said all of this. It was almost as though...

"I...I am going to destroy it...No one will ever be able to leave again." Now...be a good young lady and go upstairs."

It was almost as though she'd never died to begin with.

"...Toriel?"

The monster turned her head to look at the human.

"You...You know I can't stay here. I have to go..."

"Ginger...Every human that falls down here meets the same fate," she said to her. "I have seen it again an again."

"They all left and died...right?"

"...You catch on quickly. If you leave the Ruins..."

"Asgore..."

Toriel stiffened again; she knew about the king. She must have learned more about monster history from that book than she thought.

"Just...go upstairs. I am only doing this to protect you."

"I've witnessed and done things you can't possibly fathom, Toriel," Ginger said to her, the terrible memory of the plastic blade somehow cutting deep into her coming back. "I'll be able to hold my own out there."

She didn't answer, merely returning to the gateway to the exit.

"You want to leave so badly?...Hmph...You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this you know..."

"I'm going to have to fight you, aren't I?"

The monster turned to face the human; she had broken out into a cold sweat, and her face was nearly as pale as her own fur.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?" she wondered aloud. "...It's almost as though you have seen a ghost."

In Ginger' eyes, this may have very well been the case. But if she put it that way, it had to mean that she was really standing there, in the flesh. But she'd killed the monster; what was going on? Toriel was back from the dead...but apparently, she had no recollection of anything that happened past the point of her descending down he stairs. How did this happen? Had she actually even...

The human paused. Had she somehow been given...

A second chance?

"Do you, perhaps, know something that I do not?"

Ginger stiffened at the question; she did. But she would be a fool to try and tell her, even if she asked further.

"...No...That is impossible."

And just like before, she rose her flaming paws and released the flurry of flames. This was real.

By circumstances unknown, she'd actually been given a chance to make things right.

The human meandered around the barrage of flames. Toriel sent them in waves, spirals, straight paths across the floor and through the air. She had years of experience with fire magic, for cooking, for warming the house, but she seldom used it to fight, unless a human were trying to leave again, only to get themselves killed. With every wave of flames, only one or two actually made contact with the human. But even that was enough to deal gradual damage.

And all the while, she refused to fight. Whenever she gave the human an opening, just to see how strong she was, she just stood there, unmoving and looking her dead in the eyes until she gave up and used her next attack.

"...What are you doing?" she finally questioned. But she got no response. The human just stood there; she was battered and burned, but she still stood her ground. Another array of flames came her way; she dodged everyone except the last, and it struck her right below the heart.

It was enough to make the human collapse. But even after no more than a moment to catch her breath, she still got right back up. And she still wasn't retaliating.

"Attack or run away!" she called out. "That is the point of a battle!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," the human replied, and she said nothing more.

"But look at yourself. You can barely stand anymore. What are you proving this way?"

"That I can play by my own rules."

It was enough to make her hesitate with her next attack. When the flames finally did pour out, most of them tried to go around the human instead of hitting her directly. Ginger stood there, her face covered in soot, and her arms displaying several bruises and burns; one of the larger burned spots looked like the skin was coming away, and a few, tiny drops of blood were beginning to leak from the opening. She looked right through to Toriel's SOUL; the face of one who had seen the face of war, but refused to put her experience to use. She wasn't going to attack.

"Stop looking at me that way."

She sent more flames going out around her, moving far enough away that they wouldn't harm the human. Maybe if she went easy enough on her, she'd get tired after a while and either give up or fight back; either option was fine with her. She just didn't want to have to fight the poor human anymore.

She attacked again, the flames even lesser and farther from the target. But she did nothing except look at some that whizzed past her. She wasn't going to stop doing what she was doing.

And she was doing absolutely nothing.

"I...I know you want to go home, but..."

Finally, the flames stopped; she couldn't do this anymore.

"Please...go upstairs now. I...I promise I will take good care of you here."

Nothing; if she would just say something. Anything. She didn't care what. She just wanted the human to say something instead of just standing there with that determined stare on her face.

"I know we do not have much, but...We can have a good life here."

"...I can't. We both know I can't."

She at least bothered to speak this time; no matter how much it hurt, she at least said something.

"...Why are you making this so difficult? Please...Just go upstairs."

No answer. The human's gaze softened, but she still remained steadfast. Toriel laughed in spite of herself.

"...Pathetic, is it not?" she just barely chuckled. "I cannot even save a single child...Why? I gave you so many chances to finally prove yourself; why wouldn't you take them?"

"It's called **MERCY**."

Now it was the monster's turn to stare, and her own words came back to her from when she was first showing the human how to keep herself safe.

"_We...we wouldn't want to hurt anyone, now, would we?_"

She hadn't forgotten.

The human's gaze displayed a mix of emotions; fear, yet confidence. A bit of anger, yet patience surmounting it tenfold. MERCY, and yet more **DETERMINATION** than she'd ever seen in any other human.

She wasn't going to give up.

"...No. I understand," Toriel finally gave in. "You would just be unhappy trapped down here like this."

And Ginger's gaze showed a new emotion; surprise. It was as though she didn't think the monster would be backing out of the fight anymore than she'd planned to.

"The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It...It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations...my loneliness...my fear...For you, I will cast them all aside."

The human looked up at her. Despite the situation, she seemed somewhat confused. What was going on in her head? She was honestly somewhat afraid to know.

She kneeled down and placed a furry hand on her shoulder, and Ginger's entire body stiffened.

"If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, then...I will not stop you. However, if you...no..._when_ you do leave, please...Do not come back. I hope you understand."

The human looked down at Toriel's side, in the place she'd sent her weapon tearing through. There was no blood. No scar. No tear in the fabric. And the monster quite apparently had no recollection of the event. It was almost as though Ginger had been taken back in time to before the ordeal occurred in order to do everything again the right way.

"I..." she stammered, convinced that this was real, but still confused as ever. "I guess I should be going now. I'm sorry I have to leave you here all alone, but...I have a job to do and places to be. I-if there's anything else I can do for you in return before I leave, then-"

"No, no, I've already put you through enough. Just..."

She sighed, then, without warning, wrapped the human in her arms.

"...Just be careful."

Oh, no; not hugging. She tensed again; she was less bothered by the feeling of being far too close to someone else than the notion that she had seen this monster die. Either way, as warm as the embrace was, it was not a welcome one.

But she didn't complain; the least she could do was let the monster say goodbye the way she liked.

Toriel had to have noticed the human flinch, because it was only a mere second or two before she let the human go and stood back up.

"I won't forget everything you did for me. It's...It's probably really gonna help me out."

"I wish you the best of luck out there, Ginger. Always remember to show some MERCY; if it got you up to here, then it should take you far," she bid as she turned to go back up the stairs. Before she disappeared from view, she looked back one more time. The two made eye contact.

"...Goodbye, my child."

Ginger managed a reassuring smile, then a small wave, and Toriel vanished around the corner. Ginger savored the last brief moment before she left; she would probably never see her again.

But she was alive and well; that much she could at least appreciate, no matter how impossible it seemed.

Ginger slowly pushed the doors open, and they complied with a heavy creaking sound. She stepped into the next hallway; far up ahead, she could see the end of the Ruins; there was no second gate. It was just an open walkway.

She shut the gates behind her, then straightened her messenger bag by pulling on the strap, continuing toward the door as briskly as she could with all of the depressing thoughts booming like a storm in her mind. How had she been given a second chance? One moment she was mourning over the monster's body, which had mysteriously turned to dust, and the next, she was back in front of her house, right next to one of those stars that were scattered around the Ruins. And Toriel was perfectly fine, and didn't seem to recall anything, only noticing the human's fearful shock. Had she really gone back in time to before she'd been killed?

Finally, she reached the doorway, and stepped outside. And then she gasped. Right there before her sat...

"Clever. Verrryyy clever."

"You..." she growled.

Flowey. And he was wearing one smug look on his freaky little flower face if she ever did see one.

"You must think you're awfully smart, don'tcha?" he drawled in that high-pitched, eerily cutesy voice of his. Ginger forgot the promise she'd made to herself about stepping on him in her own disgust.

"In this world, it's kill or BE killed," he continued. "So, you were able to play by your own rules up until now. You spared everyone...Must feel really good, doesn't it?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Hee hee hee...'What am I getting at'..." he chuckled to himself, his face contorting into that giant, demonic grin, his eyes black seas of hatred with blood red pinpricked for pupils. "Well, since you wanna know so bad, I'll tell you what I'm getting at...I know what you did."

"_I know what you did._" Ginger felt as though her heart had stopped entirely. What had he seen her do?

The plant read her mind and gladly answered her question.

"Heh heh...You murdered her."

The human was completely frozen in terror.

"And then you went back, because you regretted it."

"...You..."

Ginger's voice quivered, and her words barely came out as an audible whisper.

"I know what you're thinking...'How did I do that? How did I turn back the clocks, exactly?...And how does HE know?"

The human's horror curdled into something that made her far stronger; anger. And not just any anger. Rage. An anger that Pure Ones accumulated within their gizzards to use for the battlefield in order to fuel their fighting spirit. Rage; the most powerful form of anger there was, and the most coveted tool for tempering one's mettle.

She bent down and grabbed the flower by the stem, threatening to pluck him right off of his roots if he didn't comply.

"Tell me," she snarled. "Tell me how I went back in time and tell me how you know or else I'll tear you leaf from leaf and petal from petal!"

"_Ah!_"

For the first time, Ginger could see fear in the devilish flower's eyes.

"No...please...I don't want to die...not yet...! Have MERCY!"

She paused...No matter how terrible Flowey had been, she couldn't find the will to slay him in cold blood. She let go, shoving his stem back.

"Explain. And no funny business."

"Ah...hah...hah...heheh..."

Flowey seemed to regain his snarky confidence in a snap; a ruse. The little lying coward...

"Alright. I've got nothing better to do. It's called the ability to **Save**. And with the ability to Save comes the abilities to **Load** and **Reset**. I saw that you got pretty curious about those little shimmering stars all over the place. Let me tell you something; they're not just there for decoration. I call them Save Points, because interacting with them makes you Save at that point. And once you save, the only way to go all the way back to a previous Save is a Reset."

"And what's a Reset?"

"When you Reset, you go all the way back to the beginning. In my case, that was when I first woke up. In yours, I'm guessing that if you Reset, you'll be taken back to the point at which you fell in through the Barrier. And before you waste your breath asking, Loading happens when and if you die down here somehow. Down here, your **DETERMINATION** basically makes you unkillable. When you die, you're taken right back to your last Save Point. You come right back instead of moving on to the next life...if there even is one. Furthermore, since I was able to Save and Reset myself once, I remember the all of the alternate timelines...including the ones YOU trigger."

"...How does that work?"

"You idiot. Do you honestly think I know? I found out about it the same way you did; through experience. I don't know HOW it happened, except that it has something to do with DETERMINATION. I thought I was the only one with that power...but I can't Save anymore. Not since you've come down here. Apparently, you're DETERMINATION is stronger than mine. That's why I acted the way I did when you threatened to kill me like that. I'll be honest; I didn't think you had the balls for that, especially since you saw what I was capable of the LAST time we met."

"Oh, just because you've got your little 'friendliness pellets' you think I'm afraid of you? YOU'RE the one who should watch their back. If I can Save and you can't, that means trouble for you if you cross my path one too many times."

"Ha ha ha ha ha...Don't get cocky. In the mean time, I'll let you enjoy the power while you have it, simply because of how curious I am. But I'll be watching. Every move you make, every step you take...I'll be watching you. Ehee hee...hee hee...ha ha..."

The flower burst into a maniacal cackle, and then, in an instant, retreated back into the ground where he belonged. Freaky little weed...She almost regretted not grabbing him before he could burrow back into the earth and rip him to little green and yellow shreds; he deserved it.

But she only would have done it AFTER she'd gotten him to talk. In spite of how disgusting he was, he at least was able to provide her with something useful.

The ability to Save.

The ability to Reset.

She could use these powers whenever she wanted to reshape the world, to predict the future, to undo fatal mistakes.

To play God.

She sighed; if this was indeed the case, she was truly blessed to have received such a power. But she decided she would use it sparingly; one false move, and there was potential that she could not only lose the power, but at the most terrible time, as well.

_Use it wisely. You don't know how many chances you have._

The human sighed; the exit, which was just like the entrance to the Ruins, lay dead ahead, just beyond the patch of grass, only this one was sealed by a two more stone doors. Ginger approached them and grasped the handles, turning them. The great stone doors made an ominous creaking sound as they cracked open.

She stepped out of the Ruins, planting her feet on cold, snowy ground, turned back to face the doors, then shut them. She could hear them lock from the inside. Now, she had reached the point of no return.

The rest of the Underground lie ahead in wait. She couldn't just stand here forever. She had to keep going.

And she was filled with **DETERMINATION.**

* * *

**A/N: Okay! This came out fairly well in my opinion! This is fun...**

**Just for some extra laughs(this chapter was kinda grim...) I'll let you guys in on something; I give my documents some pretty random names(this one is literally just called "waluigi." I might be watching Sr Pelo's "Underpants" too much XD)**


	7. Chapter 5: Chills Down the Spine

How in the actual HAGSMIRE did one get snow UNDERGROUND? There were no clouds beneath the earth; there was no sun to evaporate any water to form them. And no clouds meant no precipitation, so how in the actual living hagsmire was there snow on the ground?

_Don't bother questioning it,_ Ginger said to herself._ It makes just about as much sense as everything else down here._

Just outside the Ruins, there was what looked like a large, snow-covered bush. Maybe she could make something out of it; a hideaway of sorts, a secret base, maybe. Nothing too fancy, just a place to return to if things got hairy. Besides, it was close to the Ruins. It'd be nice sticking around for a little while longer.

She parted the leaves, causing some of the snow on the leaves to fall away, and she was immediately met with a foreign object; another piece of advanced technology that the Tytonic Union(and most other birds)was unfamiliar with. She tapped the lens; curious. She tried to remove it from the bushes; it stayed steadfast where it was. Maybe someone had put it there on purpose in such a way that it couldn't be removed.

Whatever the case was, someone had already been there, and she wasn't sure she'd want to be around if they ever decided to come back, so she begrudgingly aborted her plans.

The path ahead was lined with a forest of barren trees; they were probably all dead with the lack of sunlight, but how they managed to grow so tall before their untimely deaths, she had no idea either. She decided to continue down the path; at some point, she'd find some kind of civilization, right? The Ruins were so well built for what they were; monsters might be after humans for their **SOUL**s, but from what she'd seen since her arrival, they were not savages; far from it. Especially in the case of...

She looked back at the Ruins one last time; the door had grown so much smaller, it seemed, from the distance she was at. Whatever Toriel was doing, she just hoped she was alright.

Ginger stepped over a thick-looking branch in the middle of the path absentmindedly, and continued a few steps before she began to think about odd concepts; could these trees surrounding the path be sentient? Even if they seemed as good as dead? If Flowey and Dwayne could speak and think for themselves, then who was to say that the trees couldn't? It was an unsettling thought; what would they think of her? Were they watching her? Judging her? And could they-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud snap. She looked behind her to identify the noise.

The branch in the middle of the path was broken.

She turned back around, picking up her pace as she went farther down the path. Nothing was there when she'd turned around, but she knew there was only one way the branch could have been broken the way it was; something had to have stepped on it. Something big. Was it the six-and-a-half foot beast that was the head of the Royal Guard? Had she set up an ambush? No, that was impossible. How would-

There was another noise; the distinct sound of footsteps making the snow crunch and shift. She looked over her shoulder without stopping; nobody there. Nothing but the trees, the snow and the darkness.

She walked faster, on the verge of jogging. Something was definitely following her; what it was she didn't know, and she didn't want to stick around to find out. The young human eyed a break in the land just up ahead, a small bridge connecting the two ends, and a wooden gate-like structure surrounding the space she could walk through; if there was a bridge all the way out here, then a civilization of some sort couldn't be much farther. She put a hand on the pocket with the toy knife in it as she approached the bridge, ready to draw it just in case the need arose. If it could kill something as big and strong as Toriel in one blow, than anything much smaller would-

"**Human.**"

The voice came from right behind her, right when she was about to step onto the bridge. Her blood ran cold as her entire body turned to stone.

"**Don't you know how to greet a new pal?**"

The voice was deep; male, it sounded like. And its hushed tone gave off an extremely unsettling vibe.

"**Turn around...and shake my hand.**"

If it had been said in any other tone of voice, she might have accepted more complyingly. But she just stood there for what felt like a solid minute; what was the monster thinking? What was he going to do? She clenched her fists, then dug one hand into her pocket to grab the plastic handle and opened her other one to meet the mysterious being halfway.

She whizzed around, just barely catching a glimpse of the stranger's hand before she grasped it, shutting her eyes tightly, expecting the worst. And upon taking his hand, she was immediately met with the sound of...

Flatulence.

_...What._

The obnoxious noise squeaked, then stopped.

"heheh...the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick...it's ALWAYS funny."

Ginger opened her eyes.

And nearly shut them again, suppressing a scream.

She could have sworn she just saw the face of the grim reaper himself, come to take her SOUL away to glamora far too early. And considering the circumstances, she feared that she wasn't far off.

"heh...anyways, you're a human, right?"

The undead creature didn't seem to think of himself in such a manner, however.

"Uh...Yeah?" she answered, opening her eyes again to face him. There was a wide, toothy smile on his fleshless face, and the white dots he had for pupils in his otherwise empty eye sockets gave him a surprising amount of personality for something that otherwise looked so dead.

"so you are. heheh...that's hilarious. i'm sans. sans the skeleton."

"S-sans, huh? Cool..."

She took a better look at him; he was a skeleton, alright. The skinless skull and bony hands gave it all away. But she never thought she'd see a reanimated human corpse wearing a hoodie, sweat shorts and slippers. And he was short for his age; she had an inch or two on him, which made her wonder how he'd managed to make that branch snap the way it did. Even so, she had to admit that this WASN'T the weirdest thing she'd seen so far that day.

"yep. okay, now it's your turn."

"Me? Uh...Name's Ginger. Wingren."

"cool beans, kid. so, anyway, i'm actually supposed to be keeping watch for humans right now. but...you know...i don't really care about capturing anybody."

"Capturing...Right. Because you need my SOUL, is that correct?"

"you caught onto that part, huh?"

"Yeah. I, uh...just flew in from the Ruins, and...Boy, oh boy, are my arms tired."

The monster snorted, then chuckled.

"...heh...heheheh...not bad."

As much as the joke relieved some more of the tension, she honestly wished that had actually been the case.

"Um...So..." the human continued. "You're not gonna, like...try to fight me?"

"can't really be bothered. i'd rather people not end up killing themselves, you know?"

"Ha...That's a first."

"glad to hear it. now, my brother, on the other hand...he's a different story."

"Your brother?"

"yeah. papyrus. he's a human-hunting FANATIC."

"Oh, no...What's he gonna do if he finds me?"

"eh, don't worry about it too much. he's harmless."

He had a brother; she imagined something of similar build and stature, perhaps looking somewhat more dignified, and maybe a few inches taller.

"but if you're really worried about him, i'll give you a hand. go on ahead through this gate thingy; my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone."

"He made this, did he?"

"yeah. it was supposed to be a blockade, but it's really more of a gateway, the logs are so far apart."

"So, is he around the immediate area?" she asked him as they made their way across the bridge.

"probably. if he's on schedule, he should be passing through this place pretty soon. and let me tell you something; he's ALWAYS right on the money."

"What's he like? Besides, you know, the human-hunting fanatic thing?"

"you're about to find out. here he comes."

Ginger diverted her attention to the path ahead; a humanoid silhouette came into view.

"quick. behind that conveniently-shaped lamp."

The skeleton pointed at something to the left; there was a lamp, just Ginger's height, and just big enough to conceal her if she went behind it. She didn't bother asking any questions, and followed the monster's advice, positioning herself behind it and peaking out just slightly to see what Sans' brother looked like.

And holy mother of Glaux. He was TALL! She had imagined him being a bit bigger than the first skeleton, but this! He was taller than Toriel, even! Six and a half feet, probably! It was ridiculous! And despite his somewhat fancy-looking red gloves and boots, he didn't seem anywhere near as sophisticated as she'd pictured.

"'sup, bro?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP,' BROTHER!" he screeched. His voice was so overbearing and obnoxious it was almost funny. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS! AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! ALL YOU DO IS JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?"

"staring at this lamp. it's really cool; wanna take a look?"

"NO! I HAVEN'T GOT THE TIME FOR THIS NONSENSE!" he yelled at him, stamping his foot in frustration. "WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! AND THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL OF THE THINGS THAT I COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DESERVE! THE DAY I CAPTURE A HUMAN, I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! THE RESPECT, THE RECOGNITION...PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY FRIEND! I WILL PRACTICALLY BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING! I WILL HAVE ALL OF THIS AND MORE!"

"hmmm...maybe this lamp will help you."

"SANS, YOU LAZYBONES! YOU ARE NOT! HELPING! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND ALL DAY AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER WITH EACH PASSING DAY!"

"hey, come on. take it easy bro; i've gotten a ton of work done today."

"YOU HAVE?"

"yeah...a skele-ton."

"**SAAAAANS!**"

Ginger held back a laugh, and it barely came out a snort. This certainly was an amusing episode.

"come on. you're smiling."

He was right; a huge grin was plastered across the taller skeleton's bony face.

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" he admitted, then let out a deflated sigh.

"WHY IS IT THAT SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAS TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION?"

"dang, bro. sounds like you've been working yourself..."

"OH, NO..."

"...down to the bone."

Ginger smiled herself; Sans wasn't half bad with puns himself.

"**UUUUURGH! I GIVE UP!**" Papyrus snapped. "IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, NOW, I MUST GO ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK, PUT A LITTLE MORE...BACKBONE INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!"

He ran off cackling, then turned his head to give his brother one last "HEH!" before turning back the way he came. When the human saw him disappear, she poked her head out even more.

"Is, ah...the coast clear?"

"yep. you can come on out now...or...stay there if you want to...i don't care, it's none of my business."

"Down to the bone..." she mused. "Genius."

"you're a fan of bad puns, too, huh?"

"How are they 'bad'? That was hilarious!"

"heh...you're right...my jokes were pretty punny."

"I see what you did there."

"'ey."

"So, I have a quick question. Do you know where the nearest town is?"

"sleepy lil' town called snowdin off to the east; just follow the path and you'll get there eventually. the only bad news is that my brother's got all of his puzzles set up along the way; you'll have to solve them."

"I'm familiar with the concept. Thanks for the help, Sans."

"eh...whatever."

She started down the walkway again, wondering what kinds of puzzles the skeleton had laid out along the way to try and trip her up.

"hey, kid. hold up a sec."

"Hm?"

The human turned back around to face the monster.

"look, I hate to bother you, but, do you think you could do me a favor?"

"What's up?"

"well...i was thinking...my brother might have seemed pretty peppy, there, but lately, he's been kinda down in the dumps. call me crazy, but...he's never seen a real life human before, and i think seeing you might just make his day."

"Uh..."

Was this a trick? A trap of some sort. Careful; he could be up to something. Despite his overall friendly impression, she wasn't sure if it was genuine or just a ruse.

"What'll he do when and if he sees me?"

"psh. don't worry about him. he's not dangerous. even if he tries to be. i know him well enough to tell you that."

Ginger hissed through clenched teeth, glancing off to the side in uncertainty. She took one more look at the skeleton's eye sockets to see if they displayed anything in those white pinpricks she couldn't trust; his gaze had no malicious gleam in it, but it seemed unusually...empty. Not the psycotic kind of empty, but...apathetic. Sad, almost. But they conveyed an odd sense of honest goodness, despite his quirks.

"Well...Alright. Just because you're jokes are so good."

"thanks a million. i'll be up ahead."

But to her surprise, the skeleton began to walk in the OPPOSITE direction from what he'd said. The human looked back ahead, insuing that THIS was the path he should have taken, and she turned back toward his own direction to correct him.

But he was gone. Almost as though he'd vanished into thin air.

Something in her gut told her to trust him; it was the closest thing she had to a gizzard, and while not quite as reliable, and notably more vague in pointing her down the right path, it was at least something instinctive she could go by.

She went up the path ahead, and there, just above the ground, was another Save Point star. She interacted with it.

***Snowdin-Box Road**

***File Saved**

Box Road? She looked just up ahead; there on the offbeaten path was a chest, with a sign next to it. She approached it and read what it had to say.

"**This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. The same box will appear later, so don't worry about coming back.**

"**Sincerely,**

"**A box lover.**"

She opened the chest; it was empty, but it had an odd aura about it; somewhat magnetic, almost like a mini Devil's Triangle, but not quite matching the properties of flecks. Was it a magical box? Magic was capable of very strange things.

And so was **DETERMINATION**, when she came to think of it.

The human passed the chest, and there were the two skeleton brothers, conversing with one another. How had Sans gotten here? He obviously didn't take the path. But he was there, just lie he said he'd be, so she wouldn't complain to him about something so stupid.

"SO, SANS. AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE, SHE'S BEEN THINKING ABOUT FINALLY TELLING-"

The sound of footsteps trudging through the snow caught the other skeleton's attention, and he turned around to face the source of the noise. His eye sockets narrowed to take a better look at the human, then widened when he realized what he was looking at. He turned to his brother, then back to the human, then back and forth yet again. Finally, the two of them turned their backs to the human to speak in private.

"SANS! OH MY GOD! IS...IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS!?"

"well that depends on what you think it is, doesn't it?"

"WELL, I THINK IT'S A HUMAN! ISN'T IT!?"

"hmm..." Sans hummed, looking back in said human's direction. "actually...I think that's a rock."

"OH."

A rock? Ginger glanced down; sure enough, there was a pale, snow-covered rock on the ground, just a foot or so behind her.

"WELL...THAT'S A DISAPPOINTMENT."

"hey. what's that in front of the rock?"

"IN FRONT OF-...OH MY GOD!"

His wide grin was quick to return.

"ERM, IS _THAT_ A HUMAN?" he whispered to his brother.

"yes."

"YAHAHAHAHA! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL...I'M GONNA...I'LL BE SO...POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR!"

He bounced up and down where he stood. Sans had been right; the sight of her really did make his day. Who, though, was this "Undyne" whom he spoke of?

"*AHEM*...HUMAN!" the skeleton announced in that obnoxious tone of his. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! AND I WILL PROCEED TO DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITAL! AND THEN...AND **THEN!**...AH...WELL...I'M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. NONETHELESS! CONTINUE, HUMAN...ONLY IF YOU SO DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus continued down the path ahead to tend to his puzzles; this was going to be a good day for him, he could feel it in his bones.

"...Well..." the human started. "That went a little better than I expected."

"my thoughts exactly. thanks for that, kid."

"Eh, I've got one more question for you."

"'sup?"

"He said something about someone named 'Undyne'. Who's that?"

"oh. she's the captain of the royal guard; papyrus trains under her. don't tell him i said this, but even with all the training he's had, he can barely harm a...uh...kid? what's with the sweat? we're in snowdin, not hotland."

The phrase alone was enough to send a chill down her spine. One of the Loox in the Ruins had specifically warned her about that one; to "keep looking over her shoulder for her," he'd said. The Captain of the Royal Guard, who was said to have a fiery hatred for mankind. She'd probably kill her on the spot if she came across her. They knew her; personally, maybe. Especially the taller of the two.

"She's...That's...You two know the Captain of the Royal Guard?"

"yeah. but don't get yourself tied up into a knot just yet; i'll keep an eye socket out for ya, kid. honestly, i'm surprised you came out of the ruins knowing about her; you must have been in there for a long time before you finally decided to come on out, huh?"

"Actually, no; I was only in there for maybe...four hours? Five at most after I fell? The only reason I know about her is from some other monster that told me some things about her."

"like, what kinds of things?"

"Ah, heh heh...scary things. The words he used to describe her were 'six-and-a-half foot beast.'"

"well...he wasn't that far off, i'll tell you that. but you're in luck. she doesn't come here that often; she can't stand the cold. and she takes heat even worse. extreme temperatures are her one weakness. and by the time she catches word of you, we'll probably have you out of here and on your way to the capital and past the barrier."

"You'd really do that?"

"why not? haven't got anything else on my plate, so might as well."

"...Thanks for that, man."

"no prob. now go on out there and solve those puzzles."

He went down the path. Ginger stood there for a few moments; they actually formally knew the fearsome Royal Guard Captain. Papyrus especially, seeing that he trained beneath her. Even if the one was trying to help her, she was unnerved by the fact. She continued forward slowly, rubbing up and down her bare arms; she was beginning to feel the effects of the cold air.

She slung the messenger bag off her back and dug the sweater out of it, slipping it on over her orange and white short-sleeve. The slice of Toriel's pie came out back into the bag as she unfolded the clothing article, but fortunately remained unharmed thanks to the napkin she'd wrapped it up in. She snapped the flap shut and slung the bag back over her shoulder, and as soon as she had it back on securely...

The phone rang.

_Toriel!_

Oh, boy, oh, boy! She'd finally get to talk to her again! They hadn't said their final goodbyes, after all! Eagerly, Ginger dug the cell phone out of her other pocket and flipped it open.

"Is that you!?" she answered, her voice as cheery as ever.

"_Uhhh...H-hello?_"

Her smile faltered, then fell. That...wasn't Toriel. That was someone else. Someone she'd never heard before.

"_Oh my God, help..._" she heard the unknown caller fret. "_Uhhh...I'd like to order...um...a pizza? With, uh...Th-the toppings are, uh...I have them copied. I-I'll just paste them to you._"

The phone made an odd beeping noise, and Ginger tore it away from her ear and took a look at the small screen. Displayed across the entire screen was the blocky, somewhat distorted image of a...

Was...that supposed to be a human? With...cat ears? And tail?

"Um...What's-"

"_Agh! Wrong text! I didn't mean-_"

"Who is this? And why are you trying to order pizza from me?"

"_What do you-...Oh...O-oh, no. I have the wrong number, don't I?_"

"Yeah. You do..."

"_I-I...I'm sorry for th-the i-inconvenience,_" she stuttered. Her voice was distinctly female, but far less sophisticated than Toriel's. It had a much higher pitch, and was notably nasally; maybe she had a cold? Not a surprise, considering the weather.

"No biggie. Just do me a solid and stay warm, you hear?"

"_...Stay warm? Heh, th-that shouldn't be hard...uh...Okay, bye._"

Whoever it was hung up quickly...Who was that? It was no Toriel, that was for sure, which was an initial disappointment. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but pity the monster on the other end of the line. She'd sounded like a nervous wreck; a stuffy one, at that.

_Whoever you are,_ she mused, _I hope you get that nice hot pizza._

But the thought of the caprine monster still lingered over her head.

_...You know what? I'll just call her myself instead of waiting like an idiot._

She followed Toriel's instructions; just press the green button. Simple enough, right?

The phone rang on the other side three times...four...five...six.

***Nobody picked up.**

That was strange. She figured that the doting goat monster would have rushed to pick up as though her own life depended on it. Maybe she had misplaced her own phone and couldn't hear it? Or maybe...she couldn't bring herself to talk to Ginger anymore? Out of shame, perhaps? Out of fear that she might grow too close to her, than lose her? She could only imagine.

There was what looked like a large cardboard box just up ahead with a large window on it leading into the empty inside. She bent down and read the narration written beneath the opening.

"**YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION WHO COULD HAVE BUILT  
****THIS, YOU PONDER...I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!  
**

"**(NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.)**"

Was this...Papyrus's writing? It was all in uppercase; an interesting quirk, but a fitting one; with a voice that blared like a bugle such as his, it might as well be all capital letters. She stood up straight again and turned to continue.

And there in the middle of the path, just a few yards away from her, was a monster.

"Hey! You! Human!" he hollered. "ICE to see you around! Now hand over the SOUL!"

This monsters looked starkly different from anything she'd seen in the Ruins; it had a familiar avian build, wings, beak and all. But his beak had a strange oddity about it; it had _teeth_ on the inside. Not something akin to modern birds. His feathers were an icy blue, and his enormous, feathery head crest almost resembled a giant snowflake.

"Was..." she answered it, realizing exactly what it had said. "...Was that a PUN?"

"Heck yeah, it was. Why don't you chill out?"

He sent his own array of magic bullets at her; they were crescent-shaped, and came at her in strands. They moved slowly enough, so they were easy to dodge.

"Hey, come on, pal!" she reprimanded. "That's..."

And then, a mischievous grin spread across her face.

"...That's SNOW way to treat a new pal!"

"Ha! Nice try; I've heard that one before!"

He sent another flurry of attacks; he must have been fairly novice at the whole "magic attacks" thing, because they were surprisingly easy to get past.

"Come on, man!" she retorted. "Stop giving me the COLD shoulder!"

"Heard that one, too! You're no match for my COOL jokes!"

"Man, what's it take to get you to CHILL?"

"It takes a lot to get me to snow-FLAKE out!"

"Ha! This is your way of BREAKING THE ICE?"

"Well, I think it's an ICE way of doing it, if you ask me!"

He interrupted the string of jokes with another attack. But both of them found themselves laughing so much, the monster could barely aim properly, and Ginger matched by being even clumsier that usual with her dodges.

"ICY you're not the only master of puns down here!" she said to him, following up with a hearty laugh.

"Ha...Ha ha ha! Laughs! Ha! Dad was wrong! People do like my jokes!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're turning this place into a Winter PUNderland!"

"...Ha...Ha...Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You got me! That's a new one! I should really use that..."

"Ah, so, you're gonna let me go?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, sure."

"You know, my suitor up on the surface would probably like your brand of humor."

"AUGH! You've got a boyfriend!?"

"You could say that."

"Ugh; lucky...So, tell me. Was it...Love at FROST sight?"

"_'EYYYYYY!_" the two of them exclaimed in unison.

"So, dude; what's everyone call you, huh?"

"Name's Snowdrake. My old man's a comedian at the resort in the Core, and I'm gonna make it big like him, no matter how terrible he thinks my brand of humor is."

"Eesh! Not cool!"

"Psh, yeah. He's as cold as ice."

"You know...I just had a thought."

"What?"

"I get the whole ice and snow thing, but...you're sort of like a bird, too, right?"

"Well, yeah! It sure is FLY being one!"

"Well, I'm TALON you! You should try bird puns too, some time!"

"Oh, ho, ho, ho! That's an EGGcelent idea!"

"Wow! ImPECKable use of the word!"

"Hey, thanks for the tip! I'm gonna go try it on some of my buds!"

Snowdrake turned tail and ran up the path, wings spread as though readying to take flight.

"Hey, Snowdrake!"

"Yeah?"

He turned his giant crested head.

"...OWL see you around!"

"HA! Nice one!"

The bird monster dashed off.

"OWL see you around...heheh...heh..."

All of a sudden, the otherwise witty pun began to leave a bitter aftertaste on her tongue. Seeing Snowdrake, Ginger realized just how much she missed her own wings and feathers and beak. She missed being able to fly...She missed her fellow feathered friends.

She wished her so-called suitor-Kludd-were here, out of anyone. He would have enjoyed Snowdrake's stand-up routine just as much as she had. She sighed; if she ended up stuck the way she was, things between them would never be the same.

_Don't dwell on it too much,_ she reminded herself. Things would get better at some point...right. She just had to keep going.

Just up ahead on the same side of the path was another sentry station; this one was more professionally crafted than the skeleton's. It was wooden and secure, and had what looked like the embroidered head of some sort of canid creature on the roof. A sign stuck up out of the snow not far before it.

"**Absolutely NO MOVING!**"

The human ignored the warning; she had no choice if she was going to get anywhere anytime soon, and passed the sign, then the sentry station, hoping there was nobody inside.

And her hopes were dashed as soon as she passed in front of the opening.

"Did something move?...Was it my imagination?"

A monster rose up into view from the inside of the post. It...looked far more like a large, bipedal dog than a monster.

"Um...Hi?" she said, raising her hand to wave at him.

"Ha!? What!? Who's there!?"

He jumped out of the station, pulling out two long, thin swords. Their razor-sharp blades glowed blue.

"Grrrrrr...I can only see moving things. If you're a human...I'll make sure you never move again!"

"Hey, pal! Chill!" she protested, frozen where she stood. The dog looked in her direction, but couldn't seem to be able to see her, despite them being only three feet apart.

"Hmmm...I can't see you. Friend or foe?"

"Ah, friend! I'm a friend! Don't mind me. I'm just passing on through."

"Hmmmmm...Prove it, then!" he barked.

"Uh...how?"

"By...by...Name one of the sentries?"

"Uh...Papyrus?"

"'Papyrus," eh? I feel like I've heard that name before..."

"Sans' brother? The tall guy? He's kinda hard to miss."

"...True. And I do know his brother...Alright. You get a pass. I'm gonna need some dog treats..."

The dog monster retreated back into his sentry station, and the sound of him munching on dog treats was soon to follow. That was...interesting. Why didn't he know who Papyrus was? He was obviously a fellow sentry, and Sans probably was, too, taking into account what he'd said about having to be on watch when they first met up. So wouldn't they at least be acquainted with one another? Peculiar...

She reverted her attention to the path ahead again; Sans was standing there.

"hey, kid," he said to her as she passed by. "you saw what that guy's swords did back there, right?"

"They turned blue," she remembered. "What was up with that, huh?"

"well, let me give you some advice. if you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you if it makes contact. it'll just pass right through you, like it doesn't even exist."

"...Huh. Good to know. Thanks for the tip."

"eh. whatever."

Just up ahead, there was a small, frozen pond. The ice was nearly as smooth and clear as the Mirror Lakes, and beyond the other side, the path continued. She took the long way around it; if she tried to cross the ice, she'd probably end up slipping and falling like an imbecile. Besides, she couldn't tell how thick the ice was, and she wasn't going to risk falling through and freezing to death. And when she got to the other side, the skeleton brothers were there. The taller of the two caught her out of the corner of his eye and showed off another ecstatic smile.

_Here we go again..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

She was a wanderer by nature, born to explore, showing interest in every land mark, every local mystery, every aspect of any new area. That was what made her one of the prime members of the expedition to the Amazon in order to associate with the Macaw Clans. And it was that expedition that ultimately lead to her discovery of the force of eagles, as well. An added, albeit unintentional success. She was always up for an adventure. And she was good at it.

But she also knew better than to just fly off by herself without notifying anybody first.

Her words came back to him when she departed. It was First Black at the time.

"I'm going to ride the thermals! Should be nice and strong!"

And he had given her consent. But if all she was doing was riding the air currents, she should have been back several hours ago. This was not at all like her.

Something was wrong.

Most of his comrades were still wide awake, being the nocturnal creatures they were, so he fetched for the two best soldiers for the task, whom he was glad had come for the conference; his best tracker.

And his best tracker's best student.

Tarn was a Burrowing Owl, leader of the Tracking Squadron, and one of the best trackers the Tytonic Union had ever came across. Just as good, if not better, than the renowned Doc Finebeak. The name of Snowy Owl, who wore a single crow's feather in his head plumage to ward off the black daytime mobbers, made him want to yarp; filthy traitor...At least Tarn's loyalty to the cause could be counted on.

And so could Phillip's. He was a strapping young Greater Sooty, not unlike himself when he was that age. Soft spoken, but a deep thinker; wise beyond his years, perhaps from all of the dark hours he'd lived through despite his youth. And he showed great promise as a tracker under Tarn's instruction; he could hunt down a threat from a mile away with his earslits blocked.

Tarn was in the trees, and Phillip was with his fellow Tytos-in-training. He got them together in private, and alerted them each to the situation.

"Well, we'd best be off, then!" Tarn immediately proposed as soon as the problem at hand had been announced. "Which way did she fly? It'd be best to start from there and work with what we find, I'd say."

"To the west. Take the boy with you, soldier. And be thorough."

"Come along, Phillip."

The young Sooty Owl said nothing throughout the short meeting; he listened far better than he spoke. And he followed after his long legged instructor without a complaint.

Never would he have ever dreamed of sending less-than-perfect birds for the job. He always strived for perfection, or at least the closest he could get to it; among his laborers, his troops, his allies, everyone. Perfection. Flawlessness. Purity. As impossible as the goal was, he strived to get as close as he could to it.

Or he wasn't the High Tyto.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Q: Where do skeletons go to buy groceries?  
A: sans club.**

**Oh, kay! We've got a little bit of stuff happening on the surface! Don't get your hopes up too high for a surface subplot, though; I'm just adding it in for some variation. Thought it'd be nice to see what Ginger's friends above ground were up to every so often, amirite?**

**Anyway, I know I've probably said this before at some point, but I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am!**


	8. Chapter 6: Papyrus' Prodigious Puzzles

"A-HA! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!" the skeleton hollered.

"you know...she does have a name."

"SANS! I DON'T MEAN TO SOUND RUDE, BUT WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON!?"

"neutral."

"**NEUTRAL!?**"

"why not? makes things more interesting, don't it?"

The skeleton took a deep breath. How, Ginger didn't know, seeing that skeletons lacked lungs...or any other internal organs, except maybe a brain inside their skulls.

"WELL, I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND SOON ENOUGH. IN THE MEAN TIME...HUMAN! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE DEVISED SEVERAL PUZZLES! I BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE QUITE...SHOCKING!"

"It, ah...looks kinda plain to me," she commented. The "puzzle" appeared to be nothing but a flat floor cleared out in the snow.

"OH, THAT'S JUST THE GENIUS OF IT! THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO CALL THE 'INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!'"

"So that was a pun?"

"WAIT...OOOOHHHHHH, NOOOOOOOOOO! **SAAAAAAANS! YOU DID THIS TO ME!**"

"you're welcome."

He slumped his shoulders in defeat, then proceeded to pull out some sort of round, blue object.

"ANYWAY...THIS ORB DELIVERS A HEARTY ZAP TO ANYONE WHO TOUCHES THE WALLS OF THE MAZE! ONE FALSE MOVE, HUMAN, AND YOU'LL FRY!"

She shuddered at the thought; she didn't come all this way to be electrocuted to death.

"ALRIGHT! PROCEED! LET'S SEE JUST HOW LONG IT TAKES..."

Hesitantly, she inched closer to the invisible maze. She hadn't even stepped on it yet when the orb delivered the strong electric current to the unsuspecting holder.

That being Papyrus.

"SANS!" he blamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO!? IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR CRUEL, SICK JOKES!?"

"um...i think the human is supposed to hold the orb."

"OH. YES. THAT'S RIGHT. MY APOLOGIES."

He trekked through the maze floor, and the human noticed that the snow he tracked across it from his boots was displaying the path that need be taken. The skeleton might be tall, and he might be loud, but he certainly didn't seem to be all that bright.

"HOLD THIS, PLEASE."

He...placed the orb on her head...for some reason, then went back the way he came, tracking even more snow onto the clear path.

"ALRIGHT, TRY NOW!"

_At least he's making it easy for me..._

She followed the path of snow across the maze, her movement smooth as to keep the orb from losing its place. Papyrus was oblivious to the mistake he'd made.

"INCREDIBLE...YOU PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS, YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL, YOU!" he marveled. "HOWEVER! YOU WILL NOT BE SO LUCKY WITH THE NEXT PUZZLE! IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! IF HE SAYS THAT IT WOULD CONFOUND ME, IT WILL SURELY BOGGLE A MIND LIKE YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

He disappeared to tend to more puzzles, it seemed.

"Well...he's having fun, isn't he?"

"sure looks that way. thanks for the help, kid. by the way...did you happen to notice that weird outfit he's wearing?"

"How could I not? You could spot that getup from a mile away. Red boots, red gloves, red scarf...He might want to at least replace the scarf, though; looks kinda worn."

"yeah. we made that outfit a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn't worn anything else since; keeps calling it his 'battle body.'"

"How much do you think that'd actually protect him in a real battle? I mean, what's it made out of?"

"eh...i don't even remember. but man...my brother sure is cool, isn't he?"

"Ah, heh...yeah..."

Not really. He was a bit of a dandy, it seemed, who thought very highly of himself, yet was surprisingly naïve. At least he didn't seem dangerous, though. Not yet, at least. Not exactly what one would call "cool." Amusing, in an odd sort of way? Yes. But not cool.

She went ahead, noting the soft "_piff_" the blue orb made as her movement caused it to finally fall off into the snow, and spotted someone on the side of the road; a slender monster manning a cart of some sort.

"I don't get why these aren't selling," he mumbled, in low spirits. "It's the perfect weather for something cold, isn't it?"

_Psh. Think again..._

She darted past him quickly before they had the chance to make eye contact with one another. Up ahead there was another clear patch, and she saw a hole at the south end when she reached it...Was this supposed to be a puzzle? The path ahead of the ice field was clear, though, so that meant she could go ahead. She had to admit, these puzzles weren't doing as good a job at hindering her as the ones in the Ruins were.

Past the clearing, the two skeleton brothers were waiting for her; there was an impression in the snow, and what appeared to be a piece of paper stood out in the middle of it.

"SANS! CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT THE HUMAN HAS ARRIVED!? WHERE IS YOUR PUZZLE!?"

"it's right there on the ground, don't you see it? trust me. there's no way she's gettin' past this one."

Ginger skeptically approached the piece of parchment on the ground and picked it up to inspect it.

"**Monster Kidz Word Search**"

This? THIS was supposed to be the puzzle?

All she did was give the two skeletons an unimpressed look before letting the paper flutter back onto the snowy ground.

"SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"whoops. heh...i knew i should have used today's crossword instead."

"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? MY EARS MUST BE DECIEVING ME! YOU MUST BE INSANE!"

Ginger held back a smile. Okay, MAYBE Papyrus' antics were more entertaining than she originally thought.

"IT IS QUITE CLEAR, BROTHER...THAT JUNIOR JUMBLE IS THE HARDER ONE."

"really, bro? that easy-peasy word scramble?...that's for baby bones."

"UN. BELIEVABLE..."

The taller skeleton turned his gaze towards the human.

"HUMAN! WOULD YOUBE SO KIND AS TO SOLVE THIS DISPUTE? WHICH IS HARDER? JUNIOR JUMBLE OR THE CROSSWORD?"

"Wait...You're asking ME?"

"WHY OF COURSE! CONSIDER THIS A PUZZLE IN AND OF ITSELF!"

"Dude, I don't know...uh...the jumble, I guess?"

"HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN I PREVIOUSLY PRESUMED! NYEH! HEH! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

He ran off again with that same laugh. That maniacal, exaggerated laugh that he seemed to love emitting. She didn't know why or how, but it was definitely growing on her.

"Okay, I've made up my mind," Ginger said to the shorter brother. "That guy's a rip."

"i know. thanks for saying 'junior jumble' just to appease him."

"Uh, well...To be completely honest, I've never done either one of those in my entire life."

"no?"

"Where I'm from, we get our news handed out orally."

"...huh...so...no newspaper?"

"Except for an occasional urgent message, usually concerning the higher-ups."

"...weird. oh well..."

She shrugged, then continued, coming across two small tables. One of them had another piece of fancy tech on it, and the other displayed...

A full platter of spaghetti.

She remembered a time where the Tytonic cooks had attempted to recreate the Italian dish using raw garter snakes instead of noodles and mushed up mouse meat instead of tomato sauce to appeal to the Hoolian audience. It had only been served once or twice, since it wasn't a big success; snakes weren't very nutritious, and consuming too many left a bitter aftertaste in the gizzard, even long after the pellets of snake bones had been yarped.

There was a note on the ground beside the table of spaghetti, which she read.

"**HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI.**"

"**(LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP DESIGNED TO  
ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T  
REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING! THOROUGHLY JAPED  
AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!)**

**NYEH, HEH, HEH**

**PAPYRUS**"

Maybe her thought about skeletons having brains somewhere inside their skulls was wrong. Nonetheless, the letter made her snort. Seemed typical for Papyrus to even write down his LAUGH.

She attempted to dig the fork provided to her into the entre, just to appease him, but it turned out it had been left in the cold for so long that it was completely rigid. She couldn't even get the prongs of the fork wedged between the crevices in the noodles. Oh, well.

She turned forward again, and she noticed a Save Point had been behind her and the tables. She quickly brushed her hand up against it.

***Snowdin-Spaghetti**

***File Saved**

Good. Now she could keep going. There was another sign ahead.

"**Warning:  
Dog Marriage**"

Dog...Marriage? Two dog monsters, maybe? It sounded like it could be; something was emitting muffled barks from off in the distance.

Wait...that wasn't coming from the distance. It was coming from right behind one of those young pine trees-

"_Raff! Raff, raff!_"

Something leapt out from behind the tall snow lump and blocked the way. It was about her height, and had a white, foxy face, its tongue hanging out of its mouth. It wore a full set of armor, and wielded a long, sharp sword. Ginger pulled out the toy knife, expecting a full on attack.

But the bipedal dog-like creature simply stood there, staring at the knife she threatened to point at it. Its eyes sparkled with playful curiosity, and its tail wagged. Ginger moved the weapon around with her hand; the dogs eyes followed the object wherever she lead it to. It emitted an excited yip, and gave her a quick glance and cocked its head.

"You, uh...you like it, huh?"

The dog nodded understandingly, then leaned over onto all fours in a pouncing position, dropping its sword onto the ground.

It wanted her to throw it.

"Um...Okay, then. Go get it!"

She flung the knife across the path ahead, and the monster bounded after it. It landed in the snow, and after a few seconds of poking its black nose around, the creature pulled it out in its jaws and trotted back to her, placing the weapon at her feet.

Ginger was surprised by the lack of drool on the knife; it must have been extra careful to keep it clean.

She put it back where it belonged, then faced the dog, who was sitting at her feet, looking up at her with enthusiasm.

"Heh...good dog."

She vigorously scratched the top of its fluffy white head, and it thumped its back paw on the ground, kicking up some snow, emitting content yips. As soon as she finished, it bounded off happily.

Up ahead there was a clearing, and what looked like another small impression in the snow. She approached the clear spot to inspect it...and found what looked like a switch hidden beneath the thinner layer of white. She pressed down on it, then heard the loud, familiar sound of spikes retreating into the ground upon activating it. She headed down that way, considering herself lucky forfinding the solution so easily; the skeleton would probably have to hide the solutions more easily if he really wanted to stop her.

Sure enough, the spikes had gone down, and the path ahead was clear. The human continued across the bridge, finding a path heading still south.

And right ahead, she saw two cloaked figures approaching. Each of them were a few inches taller than her, and from underneath their black hoods, blunt, white canid snouts protruded. They sniffed the air as the got closer, and stopped right in front of her.

"...What's that smell?" one of them wondered, his voice deep and handsome.

"...Where's that smell?" the other added, her voice light and fair.

"Traveller!" the male announced, pulling out an axe. "Identify yoursmellf!"

"Uh...fellow monster on a hike?" she fibbed. She wouldn't want to have to fight these two; they had giant AXES, for Glaux's sake! She hoped they'd be as gullible as the one dog was back there at the sentry station.

But the male monster took another whiff...

"It smells like...a HUMAN!"

As soon as he said it, both of them flung their hoods away and readied their axes; these were also dog monsters, each with flopping ears and medium white coats.

"Hey, hey, easy with those axes, fellas," she plead as they approached. "Wouldn't want to do anything you might regret, would you?"

"We will regret nothing! Especially when we do it together!" the female declared.

"Really? Well...what if I told you that I...uh...Hey! Guess what?"

"What is this? A trick? Dogaressa and I will not be fooled!"

"No! I'm serious! Did you know that...that..."

"That what?"

"Did...Did you know that snails...make horrible shoe laces?"

The two dogs cocked their heads; confused, but in a strange way, enlightened.

"...Is this true?" Dogaressa questioned.

"Yeah! A-and you know something else?"

"What?" the male asked.

"Sometimes, when they get dirty...uh...Dogs...might smell like humans! And look kinda like them, too! Uh...woof?"

The dogs looked at each other skeptically.

"And you know what _else_ else?"

"What?" the asked at the same time.

"Dogs can pet other dogs!"

"CAN they?" He was not quite in disbelief, but genuinely wondered if what she said was true.

"Can they, really, Dogamy?" the female added.

"Yeah! Watch!"

Ginger reached up to scratch each of them behind the ears. Upon her finishing, they both looked quite shocked.

"...Dogs can pet other dogs..." Dogamy realized. "...Our minds have been expanded!"

"Thanks, weird puppy!" Dogaressa thanked, and the two dog monsters departed back the way they came. They dropped some gold on their way out; Ginger was prompted to give it back to them, but then she remembered how she'd gotten all of what she had now in the Ruins; it seemed like most of the monsters were awarding her the prize money intentionally. Maybe they felt sorry for her flat-broke tail end, knowing she'd come down here empty-handed?

_A plausible explanation,_ she said to herself as she scooped the gold out of the snow and counted it. Forty! It was a good thing these coins weren't very big; otherwise the weight of the metal would be a burden. She stuck it on one of the side pockets of the messenger bag to keep her legs moving freely enough; that'd come in handy at some point.

_...So THAT was what the sign meant by "Dog Marriage."_

Ginger grinned, proud of her acute mind. She had actually convinced them that she was a puppy, and on top of that she'd gotten a whopping forty gold out of her thinking... ludicrous. Ludicrously smart.

She continued and turned west. The next puzzle seemed simple enough; there were two "X"s on the ground, separated by large, snow covered rocks. She stepped on the closest one; it turned from a blue "X" to a red circle. And when she went around to activate the other one, it did the same. She finished by stepping down on the switch just north of the puzzle's center, and the spikes lowered.

And revealed the tall skeleton standing there.

"WHAT!?" he exclaimed. "HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO AVOID MY TRAP!? AND FURTHER MORE...IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?"

"You, uh...might want to reheat that stuff; it's frozen solid."

"SO, THAT'S A NO?"

"Nope; couldn't even stick a fork in it."

"I SEE...IT'S A SHAME YOU DIDN'T GET TO TASTE ANY OF IT. WORRY NOT, HUMAN! I THE GREAT MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL OF THE SPAGHETTI YOU COULD EVER WANT!"

He'd...seemed to have forgotten the fact that he was supposed to be trying to capture her. She peered into his eyeless sockets; she didn't know how it was possible that empty eye holes could portray so much emotion, but they did. Eagerness, happiness, innocence...just a tad bit of patience.

"I MUST SAY, HUMAN. IF YOU COULDN'T EAT MY FROZEN SPAGHETTI, YOU CERTAINLY TOOK QUITE A BIT TO GET HERE. SO, FOR THE TIME BEING, I REARRANGED THE NEXT PUZZLE TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE!"

"Oh...Did you, now?"

It was kind of hard to tell; perhaps if she could get a birds eye view, it would be more noticeable.

The thought made her scowl.

"TRY AS YOU MIGHT, HUMAN, TO SOLVE IT! IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT HESITATE TO PROVIDE IT!"

"You. Help me."

"OF COURSE!"

"When your goal is to try and capture me."

"JUST BECAUSE I AM TRYING TO CAPTURE YOU DOES NOT MEAN I SHOULD REFRAIN FROM BEING COURTEOUS, DOES IT?"

She responded with no more than a simple shrug, then entered through the east opening, passing over one, the following the line of "X"s south and around west again, exiting the shape. And then she followed east through the top, then south again, and finally out the far end...and she realized she'd missed one. But when the human went back to finish the job, the red "O"s turned to green triangles; didn't all of the marks have to be the same color in order for the spikes to deactivate? Exiting the puzzle and pressing on the switch for said function caused the marks on the ground to reset back to blue "X"s instead. At least she could try again.

This time, she went through he northernmost entry and made a starboard loop; she messed it up again. She took the longer route; that didn't work, either. Ginger grumbled in frustration; she really wished she could get an above view of the puzzle, since then she'd be able to map out potential solutions in the snow.

"HUMAN!" the skeleton called. "IT APPEARS AS THOUGH YOU ARE HAVING SOME DIFFICULTY WITH THIS PUZZLE. DO YOU REQUIRE MY HELP?"

"No, I got this..."

She thought for a moment. What if she went in through...the other end? Maybe...

The human went around the edge and entered through the far north, following along the path of "X"s in one try, tracing an "S" shape through the puzzle, and she finished by jut stepping on the two separated marks she'd missed.

And that worked! She finished by making her way to the switch and deactivating the row of spikes.

"WOWIE!" Papyrus marveled. "HUMAN REALLY ARE WITTY CREATURES! YOU DID THAT WITHOUT NEEDING ANY HELP AT ALL! YOU MUST BE JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT PUZZLES AS I AM! BUT. BUT! LET'S SEE JUST HOW WELL YOU HANDLE THE NEXT ONE! PROCEED IF YOU DARE, HUMAN! NYEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

He ran ahead, and crossed a small bridge to some sort of platform that'd been cleared of snow, which he also passed over. She followed after him, albeit quite a bit more slowly, and found him standing at the other end, his shorter brother by his side.

"HUMAN!" he exclaimed. "NO DOUBT, IF YOU'RE A FAN OF PUZZLES, YOU'RE GOING TO ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ONE!"

The tiles on the platform were all grey, some lighter than others, making an unevenly colored checker pattern.

"ONCE I THROW THE SWITCH, THE TILES YOU SEE BEFORE YOU WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! AND EACH TILE COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION!"

"What are the functions?"

"ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN: RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! THEY FUNCTION AS INVISIBLE WALLS, SO YOU CANNOT PASS THROUGH THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU A SHOCK NEARLY AS HARDY AS THE INVISIBLE MAZE WALLS! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON ONE, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. YOU MAY PASS THROUGH THEM, BUT KEEP IN MIND, THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS!"

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing."

"OH, AND IT VERY WELL MAY BE, CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. YOU CAN SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT IF YOU JUST SO HAPPEN TO STILL HAVE AN ORANGY AROMA ABOUT YOU, THE PIRANAHS IN THE WATER WILL NOT HESITATE TO ATTACK! AND FURTHERMORE, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW ONE, YOU WILL ALSO BE ZAPPED DUE TO THE CURRENTS TRAVELLING TO THE WATER!"

"Oh...That explains it."

"PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY, AND WILL SEND YOU SLIDING TO THE NEXT TILE AHEAD. THE GOOD NEWS? THE SLIPPERY SOAP SMELLS LIKE LEMONS; SOMETHING THAT THE PIRANAHS DESPISE! IF YOU SMELL LIKE LEMONS, THEY WILL NOT BOTHER TRYING TO SNACK ON YOU. AND FINALLY, THERE ARE THE PINK TILES! THEY...DON'T DO MUCH OF ANYTHING. YOU MAY STEP ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE. ALRIGHT! THAT'S EVERYTHING! YOU GET ALL THAT?"

"Um...Maybe?"

_Green tiles do what...shock you, they said? No, no, that was the yellow ones. The pink ones don't do anything, right? Can't pass the red ones...what do the purple ones smell like again? Lemons, right?...Or was that one oranges? No, that was the ORANGE tiles that smell like oranges; that should have been easy to remember...Whatever, I'll figure it out once he actually sets it up._

"THAT'S ENOUGH CONFORMATION FOR ME! TIME TO PUT THE WORK OF THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS INTO PLAY!"

"Doctor who?"

"royal scientist," Sans clarified. "alpha geek. lives at the lab in hotland. you'll probably come across her at some point if you're gonna be headin' to the capital...you know come to think of it i think she showed me a few episodes of that show."

"What?"

"what?"

"ALRIGHTY, THEN! HERE WE GO!"

Papyrus turned a knob on the device that activated the tile floor. The tiles began to flash; the colors began to be displayed, changing faster each time the did, faster, and faster and faster until it stopped in the arrangement of...

A pink path stretching all the way to the other side lined red.

_...How...?_

Papyrus was equally boggled; even the cool and calm Sans looked shocked by the nearly impossibly convenient layout of the tiles.

"...I...BUT...BUT IT-"

"i knew you put too much faith in the randomly generated algorithm."

"SANS. I AM AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE OPTIMIST. THE HOPER OF FAR FLUNG HOPES AND THE DREAMER OF IMPROBABLE DREAMS. IF YOU THINK I HAVE LOST ANY TRUST IN DR. ALPHYS' TILE PUZZLE, YOU ARE QUITE WRONG; I AM SURE THIS WAS JUST AN UNLUCKY COINCIDENCE."

"...either that or the doctor lies."

"LUDICROUS! WHY WOULD SHE EVER LIE TO US? SHE HAS NO REASON TO! IF SHE HEARD YOU SAY SOMETHNG LIKE THAT, YOU KNOW, IT WOULD PROBABLY REALLY UPSET HER..."

Sans' only response was a shrug of the shoulders.

"don't get yourself in a knot, bro; not like i meant it.'"

"WELL I CERTAINLY HOPE NOT. NOW COME ALONG BROTHER; WE HAVE MORE PUZZLES TO CHECK! _ALLONS-Y!_"

"what?"

"WHAT?"

Once again, the tall skeleton ran ahead, though too confused, and perhaps a might too embarrassed to emit his signature cackle. Ginger scanned over the pink tile path as she walked across it; it was so perfectly convenient it almost seemed like it'd been rigged; was someone pulling strings behind the scenes? No, that was impossible...right?

"by the way," Sans remarked before she passed by him. "you saw his spaghetti back there, right?"

"Yeah. He left a note there with it and everything."

"i'll be honest; it actually isn't half bad for my brother. he's gettin' better and better every day with his cooking."

"Oh. Well that's good."

"who knows? maybe next year, he might even make something edible."

"...Oh...Uh...What's wrong with what he makes now? It looked okay, so I can't imagine it being that terrible."

"you'd be surprised."

The human shrugged and followed in Papyrus' path; were his culinary skills really that bad to warrant inedibility? It was spaghetti, for Glaux's sake; hot noodles drenched in tomato sauce and maybe meatballs. How bad could something like that possibly be?

The Sentry Station she assumed belonged to the armored dog caught her attention as she travelled the pathway; the monster in question was right across from it, staring intently at a pile of snow. Just behind him was another Save Point.

***Snowdin-Dog House**

***File Saved**

She wondered what he was doing, just standing there staring at the white mound.

"Curious about him?" someone inquired.

Ginger turned her gaze to the left of the path to see someone standing there; he looked something like a young whitetail buck on two legs.

"What do you think he think's gonna happen?" she replied.

"He's trying to build something...or...sculpt, I think is the more accurate phrase. But you and I both know he's not gonna get anywhere just by visualizing alone. Plus; Lesser Dog never really knows what to make in the first place. It probably doesn't help that his brain is the size of a piece o' kibble. Shame...Sometimes I think if he actually figured out how to use his paws on the snow, he'd make something worthwhile."

"Huh...Well...Let's wish him luck."

The deer monster nodded, then diverted his gaze off into space. She wasn't sure why he hadn't tried to attack her; maybe he couldn't be bothered, knowing there were stronger monsters out in the area who could supposedly do the job better. Besides, he was scrawny, and not much taller than her; he wouldn't last long if she used the knife.

But she really didn't want to use it. Not yet. Most of the monsters down here could be dealt with in a nonviolent manner, usually fairly easily. The majority just seemed confused or mislead, and most of them disliked the unnecessary violence as much as she did.

Ginger looked down at her hands; she could almost see the blood on them. Sure, she hadn't...technically killed any monsters since she'd been down here. Toriel was the only exception, and not only had it been an accident, but her power to Save and Reset had undone the deed. But before she'd come down the hole, she had killed; countless crows and ravens in her standard training, several Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and a few enemy invaders on the mainland more recently, including their Black Kite of a leader.

That was a REALLY bloody one; she'd dealt the fatal blow by tearing the kite's crop right out of his chest while her mother, Nutmeg, who had been one of his hostages, kept him occupied by attacking his face. Then the latter had taken the dictator's head in her talons and smashed it into the ground until it was nothing more than a pulpy mess. Overkill at its finest; teamwork at its finest, as well, despite Nutmeg having been oblivious to just who she'd helped. She never knew it had been her long-lost daughter.

And now she probably never would.

Ginger didn't realize she'd still been walking the whole time until her foot gave way when she took another step forward, and she nearly slipped and fell onto her rear end.

Another "X" and "O" puzzle. Most of the marks were separated by the frozen pond she'd almost slipped on. Figuring she'd have to cross it in order to step on all of the "X"s, she peered past the sheet of ice; she failed to see any water underneath the surface. It was frozen solid, like a giant ice cube lodged in the ground. Incredible...

Ginger cautiously put a foot on the ice, pressing down on it to keep from slipping. It wasn't exactly easy, but she managed to keep her balance well enough to stand straight.

Now the only problem was walking; maybe she SHOULD have taken a second pair of shoes from the Ruins; who knows? If she could find something as convenient as a messenger bag in that bedroom, odds were there were also some shoes with rugged bottoms to properly grip slippery surfaces.

But the bottoms of her shoes weren't completely flat to begin with. Maybe, since there was no risk of falling into any water, she could stomp down on the ice for better traction. It worked. And she stomped across the ice field, stepping on each "X", going around the outside of the field and working her way in. Finally, when she stepped on the final mark, she found herself sliding onto the switch on the ground across from her when she relaxed her stiff legs. The press of it caused a bridge to connect the ice rink and the eastern path through some more tall trees. Some of the snow fell from the branches onto her head as she passed beneath them, and she emerged from the small pine tree grove with a frozen white cap. She looked up at the mess, unamused.

"Nice hat."

She jumped at the sudden voice. There, standing before her just outside of the grove was another deerlike monster; this one was on all fours, its antlers twisting like a mule deer's, and sprouted small needles on the top points, like tiny fir trees...but it had a misshapen mouth, its jaws on the sides, almost like an ant, which gave its face a disturbing quality. His antlers were adorned with tinsel, and a few other miscellaneous objects were stuck to it.

"You enjoying yourself?" it snapped. "Great for you; at least you can choose whether or not to wear your headgear."

It spewed a series of round projectiles at her from its sideways mouth; an uncanny sight, almost distracting her from the bullets themselves. It was a good thing they were so small and easily avoidable, despite being surprisingly fast.

"What's gotten into you, pal?" Ginger replied, noting its snarky demeanor.

"I'll tell you what's gotten into me. Those pesky teenagers won't stop sneakin' up on me while I'm dozin' and stringin' up my antlers and stickin' stuff all over me! It's drivin' me crazy! It's been drivin' me crazy for years!"

"Well...can't you just take the stuff off?"

"Do you see any thumbs on these hooves!?"

He sent another array of bullets at the human, and once they ceased, she spoke again.

"Say...You might not have thumbs but I do. Want me to take that upon myself?"

"I'm not so sure I trust you. If the teens down here are crazy, then I don't want to see what the HUMAN ones are capable of."

He sent his next attack swerving around the human instead of hitting her directly, possibly a defensive maneuver.

"Look, fella, I ain't got much on me, and what I do have I don't plan on sticking to you. Just let me take the stuff of, alright?"

"Urgh...Fine. But if you try any funny business, I'm warning you...I WILL use these horns."

"Right..."

She carefully approached the deer monster and assessed the sorry excuses for decoration he'd been burdened with. She unstuck the box of raisins off of his back, which had been adhered with some strong tape, untangled the tinsel from his twisting antlers, then finally removed a small photo that'd been pasted to his forehead.

"I think that's everything," she stated.

"Hm..."

The monster looked over his shoulder at his back, shook his head, then crossed his eyes to peer up at his forehead; everything was really gone.

"...A weight has been lifted," the creature told her. "You have my gratitude, human. It seems as though I was mistaken about you."

"Well...I don't blame you if you've had to deal with stuff like that for Glaux-knows-how-long."

"And now I am free of it. Farewell, human. And like I said before...nice hat."

The monster trotted into the woods. Ginger brought her hand to the top of her head and brushed the snow off of it She knew the deer's first remark had been sarcastic, but the second time he said it, it sounded more meaningful. Odd...It'd just been a pile of snow on her head, hadn't it? Why the compliment?

She continued. The next Sentry Station was very small, and the sign beside it only said one word:

"**woof**"

"Woof?" Another dog monster? There were certainly a lot of dog monsters around here; and even more odd, they all seemed to behave very much like the dogs they resembled. If this had been the case for all monsters, then Toriel probably would have butt against something with her small horns or emitted an obnoxious bleat at some point during her stay. The thought of the gentle goat monster doing these things created a very absurd image in her brain.

Around the station, there were round lumps of snow. She kicked a few around, wondering if any of them hid any rocks underneath them, seeing how almost perfectly round most of them were. But the were all just oblong mounds of snow, which scattered across the field whenever she kicked one.

She was just about to kick the one in the middle of the now narrowing path when she saw something poke out of the back of it; something short, white and fluffy that wagged from side to side. Was that the tail of another-

Her question was answered in mere moments when another fluffy white foxy face poked out of the snow and looked up at her. It yipped excitedly.

"~Aw, aren't you just the sweetest little-"

And then, the dog head rose up out of the snow.

It towered above her head, in full, heavy armor and a giant iron spear.

"...Little...Behemoth...Dog..." she uttered.

"_Waff!_"

Despite the revelation of its size, the dog's bark was still high pitched and yippy. Its small tail kept on wagging; it didn't seem aware of just how imposing its height made it.

"...Hey?"

The dog took the giant spear it had and dropped it at her feet.

"...Buddy," she remarked. "...You expect me to be able to throw THIS?"

The creature nodded. Ginger decided that if she failed, she could just use the toy knife again for fetch like she had the last playful dog. She took the spear in her hands, her knuckles pressing into the snow, and tried to lift it. She surprised herself when she actually managed to lift its immense metal weight off of the ground...albeit for a few seconds. The spear fell back with into the snow; if she could barely lift it up, there was no way she could throw it. The dog looked disappointed by this, and whined in apology.

"Not your fault," she reassured it, reaching up to scratch the end of its snout, just behind the nose. The dog complied by bending down so she could reach its whole head, and once she'd finished, it pawed at the ground with those enormous front paws it had.

"Well, it's a good thing I got something else."

She pulled the knife out and showed it off. The white-furred opponent reacted the same as Lesser Dog; by keeping its eyes on the prize, eagerly panting all the while.

Finally, she threw it back across the snowy field in front of its station; the knife spiraled as it flew, and landed blade-first into the snow; she stared for a few moments as the dog bounded after it. If someone had been standing there, they would have been a goner.

But there hadn't been, and the dog came trotting up to her with the handle in its mouth. She rewarded it with another scratch behind the ear. The fur on the creature's head was amazingly soft; perhaps she was feeling a thick winter undercoat as she scratched?

It wasn't until she realized the softness of the dog's fur that she found herself sitting down in the snow, and she also noticed that it had become so content with the affection, it'd fallen asleep, resting its head on her lap...What a heavy head.

Ginger carefully and slowly lifted its head off of her folded legs and back onto the ground; she didn't want to wake it, but it had gotten just a bit too close for comfort. Once she had herself free, the human stood back up and proceeded to walk the path. There was a long rope bridge serving as her path, and beneath it was another hundred feet of free air, which ended in a ravine. It was a good thing it appeared to be in stable condition, or she might have had second thoughts about crossing it at all, especially considering her lack of wings. As she crossed the bridge, she sighed in relief at how little it rocked with her movement. It was almost as though the bridge was indeed suspended by something on the ground below.

"HUMAN!"

The familiar voice made her immediately divert her attention to the other side of the break in the land; the skeleton brothers were there.

"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

And then the traps came out, from above, and beneath. A giant flail, two swinging axe traps; a fire pit, a cannon, and...a dog(?) littered the rest of the bridge ahead with peril.

"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!" Papyrus announced. "CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! FLAMES WILL RISE! DOGS WILL...WELL...I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE DOG WILL DO...BUT IT WILL DO SOMETHING! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY REMAINS! ARE YOU READY HUMAN! BECAUSE I! AM!...ABOUT!...TO DO IT!"

She expected the contraption to go off any second, but it just sat there, still...Papyrus was sure taking his time.

"well?" his brother questioned him. "what's the holdup?"

"AUGH...WELL, BROTHER...IT SEEMS THAT THIS PUZZLE, UM...MIGHT BE JUST A BIT OO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. IT MAY BE MY GOAL TO CAPTURE A HUMAN, BUT I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS AS WELL! WE MUST AT LEAST GIVE THE HUMAN A CHANCE! AND HER CHANCE AT GETTING PAST THIS...LIKE I SAID, IS RATHER LOW. BESIDES! THIS IS A VERY DIRECT APPROACH! NO CLASS AT ALL! SO AWAY IT GOES!"

And just as suddenly as it'd appeared, the deadly weaponry retreated back into storage for another time. Papyrus let out a sigh of relief, then turned to face the human. Ginger was giving him an odd, yet somewhat thankful look.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, HUMAN!?" he snapped. "THIS WAS YET ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! HEH!...HEH..."

He turned away again and fled, his wide grin seeming to have deflated some. She watched as the skeleton ran past the log buildings and signs up along the path ahead...

...Buildings and signs.

A town! Snowdin! She'd made it! Eagerly, the human crossed the rest of the bridge to get there.

"i don't know why he just put the stuff away like that," Sans commented before she passed out of ear shot. "you seem pretty capable of takin' on a challenge."

"Oh...You think so?"

"heck. do you know how much that dog's spear weighs? pushin' sixty pounds. that's how much."

"Wait you saw that?"

"you could say i did. just keeping an eye out for ya, kid, makin' sure everything's on the plus side. don't mind me if you see me hangin' around. i mean, someone's gotta make sure you don't get yourself killed. my brother? not a problem for you. but i doubt you'd want a six-and-a-half foot fishwife on your tail. even with someone of your capabilities."

"Well, I gotta admit, I DO have my fair share of working out; where I come from you need to be in peak physical condition. The off chance of an attack is never ignored, so we've always gotta be on our toes."

"well, that's good to know. but before you go on through waterfall, i say you keep up the training; you're gonna need it in case you happen upon the cap'n."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, pal."

"no prob'.."

She finally made her way into Snowdin Town, according to what the sign said. There in between the Shop and the Inn was another Save Point. She phased her hand through it.

***Snowdin-Town**

***File Saved**

It was a nice-enough looking place, at least. Hopefully the monsters living here would be pleasant enough. But even if they weren't, she would still pull through. She wasn't going down easily, puzzles or no puzzles, captain or no captain.

But as long as she had **DETERMINATION**, she could take on anything. And with enough, perhaps even the fearsome Undyne.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hey, so we're in the town now! Honestly, I can't wait to get into the meat of this story. I won't give away too many spoilers, but I have an EPIC fight scene planned out for a future chapter...No, not the next one, sorry to disappoint you.**

**Glad I could get this done soon enough; this chapter felt like it took FOREEEEVER. But I finally finished it! Remember to review! :D**


	9. Chapter 7: Bonetrousle'd

The first thing Ginger eyed was the shop; it was about time she put that gold she'd accumulated to good use. Come to think of it...how much was gold worth down here? If just 7G was considered an "outrageous price" for a Spider Donut, then it had to be reasonably close to common human currency. But up on the surface, she figured a piece of gold would probably be worth at least TEN TIMES what it was down here underground, due to its rarity and status. She could only imagine.

She stepped into the shop; the front desk was operated by what looked something like a humanoid rabbit.

"Hello, traveler!" she greeted. "How can I help you?"

She didn't seem aware of the fact that she was speaking to a human, but Ginger wasn't going to complain. She looked up at the prices above the desk, scanning the items over for anything that could be of use.

"**Tough Glove****-50G**"

"**Manly Bandanna-50G**"

"**Bisicle-15G**"

"**Cinnamon Bunny-25G**"

She only had 54G, so she knew she should use it sparingly. But, being curious, she inquired about the glove.

"This right here?"

The monster pulled something out and onto the desk; it was a faded, reddish pink hue, and it was made out of leather.

"It's a one of a kind find. Found it just lyin' around along the border between Snowdin and Waterfall one day and decided to make something of it. It's kinda faded, but other than that it's in good shape; could probably throw some mean punches with it."

"Hm...Well...I'm a little pressed for dough at the moment. What say I propose a trade?"

"Depends; got anything I might wanna take off your hands?"

Ginger thought for a moment; she didn't have much in the way of items, except for maybe...

She glanced down at her pocket where the toy knife sat in wait; it came to her that throwing punches would probably be a better attack method, since it would harm the attacker less. And she didn't want a repeat of what happened the LAST time she used the knife. Besides, using the blade was so easy; using all of her strength would keep her form up to snuff.

"How about this in turn for the glove?" she asked, taking the plastic knife out and placing it before her. The shopkeeper's eyes widened.

"Ooh, whirly...Where'd you find this?"

"Oh, uh, just lying around, like you said about the glove," she replied, not wanting to mention the Ruins.

"This is incredible...Do you know just how rare these things are? I'd say this is worth 100G!"

"A HUND-I mean...Well, if that's the case, then how about throwing in that Manly Bandanna, too?"

The rabbit took the toy knife, then handed over the two items, which, combined, were equivalent to the worth of the plastic weapon. Ginger fitted the leather glove over her right hand and slipped the bandana where the knife once rested. A hundred gold for a plastic knife...Who would have thought?

And she STILL hadn't really lost any gold.

"...What are the Cinnamon Bunnies like?"

"My own recipe," the monster answered, showing one off. It was just a cinnamon roll...but in the shape of a rabbit. Fitting.

"How much? 25?"

"That's right."

And the exchange was made.

"Thanks for your purchase. Say, I haven't seen you 'round these parts. Where'd you fly in from? The capital?"

"Uh...Yeah? The capital, yeah..." she lied.

"Well, I'm not surprised. Figured it'd be getting pretty pressed for space up there soon; there's not a lot of places you can escape to when your trapped under a mountain like this. But I tend to look on the bright side; we all know deep down that freedom's gonna come eventually, right?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Well, anyway, if you're lookin for stuff to do, I'll give you the rundown. Grillby's has food, the library has information, and if you're tired and beat, you can spend a night at the inn next door; my sister runs it."

"Is that so?"

Ginger was careful not to say much; sure the monster seemed nice enough, but if she figured out where she really came from, that might change.

"And if you get bored at all, you might consider sittin' outside and watchin' those wacky skeletons do their thing."

"Sans and Papyrus?"

"Yeah, those two; brothers, I think they said they were. They just showed up here one day and...asserted themselves. The town's gotten a lot more interesting since then, so I'm glad they decided to show up. That tall one especially; he's a character."

"Oh, yeah, I know that first hand."

"Oh, you do, huh?"

"Yep, I sure do...Well...I won't keep you too long; you've got a business to run and I've got a trip to make," the human finished as she headed out the door.

"Bye, now! Come again sometime, you hear?"

She nodded, then stepped back out into the snow. The box in between the shop and the inn sat unnoticed; she had a messenger bag, and not enough in it to weigh her down. And she wasn't all that tired yet; it wasn't much past sundown when she'd first fallen through, and seeing how much time had passed since then, she imagined it to be well into the night up on the surface.

It was then that she wondered if there was even any way to tell time down here, seeing as there was no visible moon or sun or stars to be seen down here. She looked up; far overhead, perhaps a hundred feet, was the dirt ceiling of the cavern. Just rugged brown dirt; no stars, no constellations, no Milky Way streaks painting the dark sky. Just dirt. It was depressing, knowing that none of these monsters probably had never seen the sky; did they even know what the sky was?

"Yo...Y-you okay?"

An unfamiliar voice caught her attention. She looked down to where it was coming from; there, right in front of her, was a short, yellow and orange-striped monster. He looked like a stout lizard on two legs; which was good for him, because he didn't appear to have any arms. A row of small spikes ran down the back of his head, and his short tail twitched with concern. His freckled face and bright eyes gave off a sense of youthful bliss; he didn't look or sound much older than eight, nine at most.

"Yeah, fine, kid," she responded. "Just...lookin' up at the sk-uh...cave top."

"You're a kid, too, right?"

"Well..."

He wasn't wrong, but her duty and appearance certainly didn't reflect this; she was tall, slim and muscular, all traits that made her seem older than she really was.

"How could you tell?"

"Easy. You're wearin' a striped shirt."

THAT was the giveaway? She looked down at her blue and purple striped sweater; was it really that uncommon for adults to wear stripes? Then again, she had yet to see it...

"I've never seen a monster like you before..." he commented. "You from the capital? I heard it's gettin' crowded up there."

Ginger responded with a barely discernible nod, avoiding eye contact so he wouldn't see through her ruse.

"...See that tree right over there?"

He pointed with his head(as he had nothing else to point with) east, and the human found herself looking at a somewhat small pine tree. He lead her over to it, and upon drawing nearer, she saw that it was covered with strands of tinsel, ornaments, lights and all sorts of other festive trimming, and completed with a bright gold star placed on the very top. There were presents stacked up underneath it, each addressed to and from different people.

...A Christmas tree.

Monsters knew what Christmas was? Sure, owls didn't exactly celebrate it themselves, but they at least knew of it. But monsters had been trapped underground for ages; how could they possibly know about it?

"Bet you're wonderin' why we decorated this tree and put presents under it, huh?"

"...I can't say I'm not."

"Well, one day, some stupid teenagers decided that it'd be cool to make fun of a monster named Gyftrot by decorating its tree antlers. So to make him feel better, people here started to give him gifts. And now it's sort of a tradition; we decorate this tree here instead of his horns, and we give each other presents like we do Gyftrot, you see?"

Oh...Okay, then. Maybe they DIDN'T really know about Christmas.

"We call it 'Gyftmas.' I think my dad said the 'mas' means 'party,' or something like that."

But if this was so, then this was one HAGSMIRE of a coincidence.

"You know, if I tell people there's someone new in town, they'll probably leave some presents and stuff under there for you! What's your name?"

"Ah, th-that won't be necessary," she stammered.

"Aw, come on! If I can't get your name, then I can at least let some peeps know there's a new face in town! They don't even have to see it! I don't wanna see you missin' out! Just a few people! I promise! I won't tell 'em your name of you don't want! I won't even tell them what you look like!"

Ginger sighed; she simply couldn't deny the boy's good-natured request.

"...Alright. But no more than three, you hear? I'm trying to keep a low profile."

"No problem!"

The monster readied a sprint-and then proceeded to fall face first into the snow, having no arms to catch himself with. But he didn't seem to care; he just pushed himself back onto his feet and went on his merry way. She nodded approvingly as she watched him disappear. For someone with no arms, he seemed eager to give people a hand.

"Heh...give a hand...Sans would probably like that one."

"like what?"

"_AH!_"

She whizzed around to find the skeleton standing right behind her.

"My gosh, man, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"you gotta chill out, kid. you act like everyone's out to get you."

"Ghee, I wonder why, don't you?" she retorted.

"hm...yeah. i guess i can see where you're gettin' at. but...you know...even if it seems like everyone's trying to get your soul...all they really want is to get to know you better. even my brother...heh, well...'even' might not be the right word."

"Then what WOULD the right word be?"

"probably something like 'especially.' sure, he wants to capture you, but...you know...he really doesn't fully understand what it means having to do that. he doesn't know you're supposed to die. he doesn't know that we need your soul to break the barrier. he's just...lonely, really. i'm one of the only people he's got. in all honesty...next to you doing all those puzzles for him, nothing would make him more happy then for him to call you his friend."

"...Really?"

"does it look like i'm joking?"

"No, but...why are you telling me all this?"

"because i care. he's just outside of town; keep goin' straight and you'll meet up with him at some point. don't know if he's your cup o' tea, but...just do me a solid, ging'."

"What's that?"

"he's kinda got an internal conflict going on; doesn't know if he should try to capture you anymore or not. but he might try to fight you. just givin' you a heads up, even if he's not that strong. i don't know what makes me think this, but even though you've been fairly decent to pretty much everyone you've come across down here, you seem like the type that likes to...ruff and tumble. a fighter. judging from what i've seen, maybe you're someone who fights...to keep people safe?"

"...How could you tell?"

"just intuition, i guess. but as i was saying, i got a piece of advice for you, about fighting against my brother."

"What's your advice?"

His eye sockets closed for a moment...somehow. And when they opened, the human shrank back. The white pupils that darted around inside of the black holes were gone.

"don't. capiche?"

"Uh...Noted."

"thanks. knew i could count on you," he told her, the white spots returning to his eyes. "try to make things work. maybe he'll come around, eh? oh, and by the way, in case you didn't see them, try out the tunnel system. quicker than just walkin'."

"Tunnel system?"

Ginger turned back around to look at the small, igloo-like opening, and then turned her head back to question him about it further. But Sans was already gone when she did.

_...How does he DO that?...Maybe it's magic. Yeah. That...makes sense, I guess._

She approached the igloo; there was a staircase inside leading down to a swift-moving conveyer belt that she assumed she was supposed to step on. And when she did, she found herself moving towards another opening...slowly. She walked along the moving floor, and was impressed by the combined speed. It seemed like only a matter of seconds before she was coming out the exit. The second igloo was situated in between a well-constructed house and a shed...Whose house, though? On the opposite side of the house, there were two mailboxes; one overflowing with unread letters and other messages. Ginger took a look at the names on the sides of the boxes.

"**sans**"

"**PAPYRUS**"

_This is THEIR house?...Nice digs._

She nodded, impressed by their living quarters. If the outside looked this nice, what did the interior look like, she wondered?

Ginger's thoughts were interrupted by a wet sensation on her small, fleshy nose. She blinked, and realized that tiny, white flakes were fluttering down onto the ground from above. She looked up; just below the dirt ceiling was a very thin layer of fog, from which the small ice crystals were falling.

It was snowing.

The light flurry turned somewhat heavier, and she passed the skeletons' house and continued north. The path ahead was lined with smaller, healthy pine trees, not much bigger than he decorated one in the center of the town. She kept going, and the snow fell faster, and in greater amounts, and the wind began to whistle softly through the pine needles, growing stronger with the snowfall. She wrapped her arms around herself to conserve what little body heat it felt like she had; her higher core temperature and inner layer of down feathers would have come in handy right about now if she still had them.

The snow was falling so heavily now that she could barely see in front of her. Fortunately the wind hadn't gone nuts, so she could at least hear.

"HUMAN."

The unmistakable voice of the tall skeleton came from somewhere ahead. Ginger looked up and squinted through the white sheet obscuring her vision, and she just barely managed to make out Papyrus' dark silhouette. How did he know it was her? She didn't think he could see any better than she could.

"I'VE ONLY KNOWN YOU FOR A SHORT TIME, BUT ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS," he said to her. "FEELINGS LIKE...THE JOY OF FINDING A FELLOW PUZZLE ENTHUSIAST. LET ALONE ONE WHO SHARES A SIMILAR TASTE FOR PASTA. AND THE DESIRE TO HAVE SOME COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU, TOO, ARE COOL. I BELIEVE THESE FEELINGS...MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING RIGHT NOW, IS THAT CORRECT?"

She cocked her head in confusion. Papyrus mistook this for a nod, then continued.

"I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FELL THAT WAY, HUMAN. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE. I PITY YOU, HUMAN; COMING DOWN HERE, ALL BY YOURSELF, WITH NO FRIENDS...IT MUST BE LONELY."

Hadn't his brother said that HE was the lonely one? He didn't seem to think so himself.

"I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT...MY BROTHER TOLD ME TO BE CAREFUL AROUND YOU...WHY, YOU MIGHT ASK? I HAVEN'T THE SLIGHTEST IDEA, SINCE HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE YOU'VE HARMED A FLY EVER SINCE YOUR ARRIVAL. BUT I KNOW VERY WELL THAT YOU ARE A GOOD SOUL, HUMAN! AND I WILL PROVE TO MY BROTHER THAT HE HAS NOTHING TO WORRY!"

"How?"

"IN THE FACE OF GOOD COMPANY, YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL ALLOW YOU TO...TO BE..."

His voice seemed to trail off. And while she couldn't really see it, Ginger just knew that the big smile on his face had faded.

"Something the matter, Papyrus?"

"NO...NO, THIS ISN'T RIGHT...I...I CAN'T LET YOU BE MY FRIEND," he realized, sorrow in his usually chipper tone. "DON'T TAKE THIS PERSONALLY, BUT...YOU'RE A HUMAN. AND IT IS MY JOB TO CAPTURE YOU! IS THIS NOT WHAT I'VE BEEN TRAINING FOR ALL ALONG?"

His posture straightened, and he stood before the human with a new, threatening aura that Ginger had never expected to see in him.

"IF I GO BACK ON THAT...I WILL HAVE WASTED EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN WORKING TO ACHEIVE...THAT'S IT, THEN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS...WILL CAPTURE YOU!"

As if on queue, the snow ceased, and a mighty gust of wind blew it out of the way. The skeleton stood there, taking on a fighting stance.

They were really doing this.

Ginger secured her Tough Glove and made a tight fist; she didn't want to have to use it on him, but just in case he was stronger than Sans had claimed...

"TRY YOUR HAND AT THIS!"

Ginger nearly felt the magic spread across the invisible arena in a rush of energy. And as soon as she'd finished that thought, she saw what his attacks looked like, coming in towards her from the north in a straight, single file line.

Bones. Of course.

She just moved out of their way, seeing as they were approaching in such a straight fashion.

"NOT BAD, HUMAN!" he praised. "BUT HOW ABOUT THIS!?"

Now there were two sets, coming at her from both the north AND the south. She weaved her way around them as they passed her; some of the bones barely came up to her knee, and some others were almost as tall as the human herself. She nearly clipped one of the said taller ones, as she felt the knob of the bone just barely brush up against her sleeve.

"You're not too terrible at this yourself."

"WHY, THANK YOU, HUMAN!"

Even in the face of battle, he never ceased to be polite, it seemed.

"IF YOU GET PAST THIS ONE, I'LL SHOW YOU ONE OF MY BEST MOVES!"

"I'm itchin' to see it," she replied, genuinely curious of what he had in store.

"PREPARE YOURSELF!"

One more row came the human's way, a might faster than before. This one was easy; all she had to do was step out of the straight path. The skeleton gave her an opening when the bullets halted, but just stood there and stared.

"SO YOU WON'T FIGHT, EH?" he acknowledged. "WELL, THEN. LET'S SEE JUST HOW WELL YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED...BLUE ATTACK!"

And the bones came forth...They were blue this time, instead of the normal white he'd been using. Sans' advice came back to her.

"_if you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you if it makes contact. it'll just pass right through you, like it doesn't even exist._"

She just stood there, hoping it was true. Sure enough, the blue attacks phased right through her, leaving nary a mark behind.

...That's a lot of blue attacks.

The bones ceased, and she opened her mouth, about to give Papyrus some advice on attack variation. But before any noise could come out, two screen barriers rose up out of the snow, both in front and behind the human, each just two feet or so away. She felt an odd sensation in her chest; her SOUL darted out and made itself visible.

It wasn't the fiery red-orange it had been when she first saw it.

Now it was blue.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW," the skeleton announced as the SOUL retreated back to where it belonged. "THAT'S MY ATTACK. NOW, YOU'LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FACE MY BONE ATTACKS HEAD ON! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Sure enough, he sent another wave; they were white again, and both fairly short, not far below her knee. Ginger couldn't simply get out of the way now; she'd have to jump.

The first two were easy to clear, but the next was double the height of the last two. It was a good thing it was delayed, since it gave her just enough time to prepare her spring and barely clear the bullet.

"YOU ARE QUITE GOOD AT THIS! HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING FOR THIS MOMENT?"

"Not particularly."

"WELL, I HAVE YET TO BEST YOU...LET'S SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES!"

The next wave was even more demanding. There were more bones, and the last few came all the way up to her thighs. The last one came too quickly; as she was bending over recovering from her last leap, it hit her square in the face. The pain shot throughout the human's entire body.

And it was the worst shoot she'd yet experienced.

Even Papyrus seemed surprised at his own strength.

"H-HUMAN?" he called, seeing Ginger writhe in pain for a good ten seconds. "ARE YOU ALRI-"

"_**FILTHY ROTTEN PILE OF NO-GOOD MACHEATH SCAT!**_"

The skeleton backed away, somewhat wide-eyed, and the human gasped in sudden realization and flung a hand over her mouth.

"...WH-WHY DO YOU BERATE YOURSELF SO TERRIBLY?" he questioned, knowing that someone as well-tempered as her could never direct those words at someone so great...although he had to admit, she had a colorful vocabulary; even he didn't know what a pile of "MacHeath scat" was.

And that was when he had a thought.

"OH, HOW SELFLESS...YOU JUST WANT ME TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT HAVING TO FIGHT YOU, DON'T YOU?"

"Uhh.."

Ginger was dumbfounded; was he really that full of himself to think she was directing the horrible insult at _herself?_ But she didn't complain. If he knew the truth, let alone what the vulgar expression actually meant, it would likely snap his heart right in two.

And frankly, just for saying it to him, now she though she really WAS a rotten pile of no-good MacHeath scat.

She stood to her feet, the horrible shooting sensation having finally ceased.

"Let's just keep going. I...F-forget I ever said that."

"NOT A PROBLEM! HERE'S ONE THAT INVOLVES A BIT MORE THAN JUST HOPPING!"

Now the bone attacks were coming from both on the ground AND several feet above. Now her human coordination skills were REALLY going to get a workout.

One above and a short one below; jump and cover. A big one; leap over that. Then squeeze through that narrow opening, maybe just stepping over that small one. Here comes a rising series; time the leg movements properly. This continued for quite some time, and Ginger could feel herself getting better at it.

"Is that all you got?"

"IS THAT A CHALLENGE? I ACCEPT!"

Well the next phase certain was a surprise. Now the bones were STRETCHING up and down. Good timing was of essence. Nonetheless, she almost perfectly cleared the attack, only getting hit twice by the abnormally moving bones.

But even with just three hits under her belt, she could feel the pain of the attacks beginning to linger; she couldn't keep taking gradual damage, or she'd be in trouble.

"KEEP THIS UP AND I'LL SHOW YOU MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

The next wave of bones was similar to the last; some of the bones moved, others stayed still, and Ginger had to think quickly of ways to properly didge the oncoming obstacles. In a way, this was sort of like another puzzle, requiring both physical and mental prowess to get past.

Now she was barely clipping any bones, but when she did, she could feel the mild ache spread throughout her form intensify just a bit more. It was a tiring burning sensation now, like she was standing a might too close to a giant bonfire. And there were tender spots on her where the bones had directly hit; she pictured her face being somewhat bruised, especially by the first impact.

"IT'S A SHAME, HUMAN, THAT YOU HAVEN'T ANYTHING TO HEAL YOURSELF WITH," Papyrus commented, realizing that he had seen her in better condition before.

"Like what?" she nearly snapped. She was careful to mind her tongue, but the unpleasant ache was making her irritable.

"WELL, WHAT ELSE BESIDES FOOD?"

Food.

The Cinnamon Bunny.

Eagerly, she fished the baked good out of her bag's side pouch and hastily shoved the whole thing into her mouth. She tasted just a hint of the sweet spice before sending it sliding down her gullet, not caring that she'd barely enjoyed it. Instantly, she felt the pain subdue, and most of her smaller wounds self-healed in an instant. How was something as simple as a cinnamon roll able to heal any damage, let alone so quickly? She had yet to find out.

"OH! YOU DID HAVE SOMETHING ON YOU AFTER ALL! ALRIGHT, THEN! SURVIVE THIS, AND I'LL SHOW YOU MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

Blue, white, blue again...The final wave before his so-called "Special Attack" was a pattern, and the human made her movements follow suit; still, jump, still, jump, still jump, still, jump-

She emitted a small gasp on the final two; they came at an unsettlingly fast pace compared to all the others, but she still got passed them.

"HA HA! SO YOU'VE PROVEN YOURSELF WORTHY! THAT'S THAT, THEN! BEHOLD! MY **SPECIAL ATTACK!**"

He attempted to call on another attack...But nothing happened. The skeleton looked behind him to see what could have happened to his attack, and Ginger directed her gaze towards the same location.

There, lying in the snow, was a tiny white dog, gnawing on what looked like an animal skull of some sort.

"WHAT IN THE-THAT'S MY **SPECIAL ATTACK! YOU STUPID DOG! STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE RIGHT NOW! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?**"

The small canine yipped, then ran off with the skull clenched tightly between its teeth.

"WHAT! HEY! **COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK YOU MANGY MUTT!**"

But the fluffy little bone thief had already disappeared into the piney woods. Papyrus let out a disappointed sigh.

"OH, WELL...I GUESS I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK."

The human braced herself, and the attacks came; two small one from the right, the same from the left; easy. Two tall ones; a little harder. a full on series of moving ones-_eesh!_ The stretchy ones were the real mind-benders.

The dog ran by with the bone in its mouth, and she stepped over it as it darted in between the walls.

And the next series of bones was a long jump. From the brief side view she got of them, she could have sworn the two attacks spelled out,

"**Cool Dude**"

And to top that off, they were followed by what looked like...

A bone on a skateboard.

Wearing shades.

She cleared it; maybe she'd have snickered at the amusing attack if it'd been directed at someone else. And then...

Her eyes widened.

A series of bones nearly stretching across the entire width of the path was coming right in her direction; something she very well KNEW she couldn't jump over.

Out of sheer desperation and panic, she jumped anyway, not fully comprehending that the attack seemed completely unavoidable, let alone potentially fatal. And the moment her feet came off the ground...

She found herself rising higher into the air, almost twice her own height, now.

There was no way her legs could make a jump that high. What was going on? Was this another magic thing?

But when she saw what was at the end of the unbroken bullet series, all she had to do was will herself higher, and it happened. If she so much as brushed against THAT bone, which was double the height of the pine trees lining the path, she'd be a dead human.

She rose higher, even flapping her arms, forgetting that it wasn't wings that were lifting her up off the ground, and she finally found herself hovering over the giant attack. And right when she cleared it, she could feel gravity come back into play, gradually, then...

Ginger dropped, and landed bending one knee and bracing the impact with her gloved hand. She tried to flash a confident smirk, hoping she didn't look confused.

And THEN she saw yet ANOTHER bone, coming at her at a snail's pace, and just barely extending past her foot in height. All she had to do was step over it when it came close enough and she was in the clear.

"...WELL!" the skeleton barked, clearly out of breath from the immense attack. "IT'S...CLEAR NOW THAT...YOU CAN-" He seemed to swallow. "...CAN'T DEFEAT ME! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING...IN YOUR BOOTS! THEREFORE, I! THE GREAT! PAPYRUS! ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY!...I'LL SPARE YOU! NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO...ACCEPT!...MY MERCY!"

He finally caught his breath, and the magical walls disappeared into thin air, freeing the human. He saw that she just stood there, not fighting back. She'd accepted.

"NYOO HOO HOO HOO..." he lamented; not exactly his happy laugh. "HOW IS IT THAT I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU?"

"I got to admit, that was pretty impressive," Ginger answered. "I've never had a battle like that one before."

"YOUR WORDS ARE KIND, HUMAN, BUT...UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN ME WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS. I'LL NEVER GET INTO THE ROYAL GUARD, AND ON TOP OF THAT, MY..."

His jovial grin faltered, then finally fell into a frown, and he turned away.

"...MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT."

It was true; he really was as lonely as his brother had stated. It seemed like he'd only boasted about having so many upon the encounter just to impress.

"Uh...Dude?"

He made no indication that he heard her. He just stood there.

"...WELL," he finally said. "YOU'VE GOT PLACES TO GO, DON'T YOU? I BID YOU FAREWELL, HUMAN."

And he began to walk ahead of the path, slowly and lethargically. She felt bad for the poor fellow. She really did. All he wanted was a friend.

And that was exactly what she was going to give him.

"W-wait, Papyrus."

He stopped, but refused to look her in the eye.

"...What's that you said about your friend quantity?"

"IT WILL REMAIN STAGNANT?"

"Ah...No, it won't."

"IT...WON'T? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"I know where you can find a new friend."

"...REALLY?" he inquired, curious. "WHERE?"

"Heh...Just turn around."

"WELL, ALRIGHTY, THEN."

He made a full 180, and right there before him...

Was the human.

"WAIT," he confirmed, the enormous smile returning to his face as he approached. "YOU REALLY WANT TO...BE FRIENDS? WITH ME?"

She flashed another smirk his way; a genuine smile, as cool and collected as it was.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT. THIS IS...! ERM...I MEAN...WELL, I...GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! HA! HA HA! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM?"

The calm grin finally left Ginger's face; now this. THIS statement was a whole new level of ridiculousness. She snorted.

"ERM...HUMAN?"

And then the laugh she'd been containing for a might too long finally escaped. And it only grew more boisterous from there.

And Papyrus was quick to follow with his signature cackle, which only made everything even more hilarious.

When the howling laughter finally died down, he spoke again.

"YOU'VE TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN," he stated. "I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND TO BOOT, I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE CAPITAL, WHERE THE BARRIER AWAITS! ALL YOU NEED DO IS CONTINUE EAST UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. AND THERE IN ASGORE'S CASTLE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CROSS THROUGH THE BARRIER...IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, THAT'S WHAT WE CALL THE MAGICAL SEAL KEEPING US ALL TRAPPED UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT...EXCEPT FOR SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL, LIKE YOURSELF!"

"So all I have to do is watch out for the king and just...walk back into the outside?"

"THAT SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT? BUT...WATCH OUT FOR HIM? WHY WOULD YOU EVER NEED TO BE WARY OF KING ASGORE? HE'S JUST A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER!"

"A big. Fuzzy. Pushover."

Was she hearing this correctly?

"ABSOLUTELY! OH, EVERYBODY LOVES HIM. I'M CERTAIN THAT IF YOU JUST WALK UP TO HIM AND SAY 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR, CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF!"

This claim was a stark contrast to Toriel's warning.

"_He...Asgore...will kill you._"

But the way the skeleton described him made the king sound like the nicest guy on earth. Which one was she supposed to listen to?

"HUMAN! THAT LOOK ON YOUR FACE...YOU SEEM CONFLICTED! ARE YOU, PERHAPS, HESITANT TO EMBARK ON YOUR JOURNEY TO THE CAPITAL?"

"You could say that," the human replied. "You're not the only one who's told me about the king and the capital. To be honest, I...think I'm gonna stick around Snowdin for a while until I sort out my plans properly. I'm guessing the capital's a long ways off?"

"IT IS QUITE FAR FROM HERE. I CAN SEE THE NEED FOR EXTRA PREPARATION, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT. BUT IF YOU'RE STAYING FOR A WHILE, THAT MEANS WE CAN GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER!"

"I'll probably crash at the inn and use my time to stock up on resources; food, tools, stuff like that. Especially if I'm gonna be doing this all on foot."

"THE INN!? NONSENSE! AS A GOOD FRIEND, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO STAY WITH MY BROTHER AND I, FREE OF CHARGE!"

"Really?"

"WHY, OF COURSE! IT'S THE LEAST I COULD DO!"

He stretched out his bony arms and practically scooped Ginger off the ground in a friendly hug, oblivious to her disdain until she spoke.

"Papyrus if we're really friends you're gonna put me down."

"OH. NYEH HEH..."

He swiftly complied, not wanting to annoy the friend he'd just made.

"MY APOLOGIES."

"Look, I appreciate the thought, but I've got two words for you: No. Hugs."

"NO. HUGS. I THINK I CAN REMEMBER THAT. AND I'LL ALSO REMEMBER TO INFORM MY LAZY BROTHER ! ODDS ARE HE WON'T LIFT A FINGER WHEN I ASK HIM TO HELP ME PICK UP, SO I'LL HAVE TO DO MOST OF THE TIDYING MYSELF...AS ALWAYS...BUT IT'S NOT A PROBLEM! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ALWAYS KEEP A NEAT AND CLEAN ENVIRONMENT! SO THERE SHOULDN'T BE MUCH TO DO!"

"That's great!"

"WELL, I'LL BE AT MY HOUSE BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO DROP BY ANY TIME! NYEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

And he ran off towards his home again with the same cackle. Ginger watched him disappear down the path, and she could just barely make out his tiny silhouette open the door to his log house and dart inside. She decided to give him some time; if she was going to be hanging with them for the next few days, she'd give the brothers some time to prepare...mainly Papyrus, if what he said about Sans was true.

"well, that went well, didn't it?"

She was about to jump, but then she processed the voice.

_Speak of the hagsfiends and they shall appear._

She turned around to face the shorter skeleton.

"Might I ask how you do that?"

"do what?"

"Just...show up out of nowhere. Is it, like, some sort of magic?"

"eh...i guess you could say that. it's a talent of mine. you wanna see another talent of mine?"

"...Okay?"

"check this out."

And as soon as he said it, she found herself being lifted clean off the ground by some invisible force. There was an odd glow in one of the skeleton's eyes, and he raised his...eyebrow...socket parts, or whatever they were, indicating that it was HIS doing.

"does that explain anything weird that might have happened during that little scuffle?"

"That was YOU?"

"you're welcome."

And he planted her back onto the ground, feet first, thankfully.

"Exactly how much of that did you see...or hear?"

"oh, only all of it."

"So, you know what we planned on doing, right?"

"you're gonna crash with us. fine with me; makes things more interesting, at least. and, uh...i appreciate that you listened to my little piece of advice. thanks for that."

"Oh...You're welcome."

"i just have one question."

"Lay it on me."

"would you mind defining 'macheath scat' for me?"

_Oh. Well. Sprink..._

* * *

**A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with Wolves of the Beyond, the MacHeaths are a clan of Dire Wolves known for their brutality, and they were eventually ousted from the Beyond by neighboring clans into the Outermost. Go read the wiki if you're curious, it'll tell you more than I can.**

**How'd I depict the battle scene? Some aspects of the fight were kinda hard to write down without making them seem completely outlandish. They say a picture paints a thousand words, and I'll tell you something; they're not wrong.**

**And I didn't include every single attack wave, because that would have doubled the chapter length. XD Besides, it'd probably get boring after a while, so I just included the major ones.**

**Well, thanks again for readin', fellas!**


	10. Chapter 8: Skeleton Hangouts

Just sitting on a bench thinking was a tedious method of killing time, but it was safer than wandering around and drawing eyes towards her. Besides, as boring as it was, it was, in a way, productive. The more ideas she could come up with to help her get to New Home, the better, and with each idea came the potential to build off of it and improve any cons, and then to build off that and improve THOSE cons. It was a long, branching process of thinking, but if she could come up with a good enough idea; be it what to do in a specific situation or a physical entity she could make use of, it would save her a lot more time in the long run.

"Yo!"

She barely kept in a startled screech, and it instead came out a convulsing gasp; not a very sophisticated noise. She turned around to face that same young armless monster she'd had a friendly encounter with earlier...Didn't anyone know how to just say "excuse me" around these parts, or did they always greet each other in such a jarring manner?

"What is it, kid?" she responded, trying her best not to sound irked. "I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"I think there's somethin' for you underneath the Gyftmas tree! Check it out!"

_Really? Already? How long's it been, an hour?_

She found herself wary, not knowing if she should trust something like this happening so quickly. The monster lead her to the tree and pointed down at something with his blunt snout. There, just barely coming out from beneath the lower branches, was a box covered in blue and white snowflake-patterned wrapping, adorned with a yellow bow on top, on which a large, icy blue feather was stuck; it looked like it came from somewhere off of a bird's head. Coming out from the bow was a note, attached by a string, and Ginger read the messy handwriting curiously.

"**TO: Someone with a great sense of humor whose name I don't really know**"

"**FROM: Snowdrake**"

"**If it turns out you're reading this, lemme tell ya; your little piece of  
comedic advice really took off with my squad. They love the bird puns.  
Couldn't help but remember you had nothin' but that shabby sweater,  
so I figured this'd come in handy. And it double-functions as a disguise  
****if you jerk the hood up high enough, so people 'round here might not  
jump you as much, you know what I'm sayin'? Plus, doesn't it just  
look AWESOME!? Owl be seein' ya! (See what I did there?)**"

_Okay, so it's probably perfectly safe,_ she figured, though she had yet to know what the aspiring feathered comedian was actually talking about.

"Come on, come on, open it! I wanna see your reaction!" the striped lizard exclaimed eagerly, bouncing up and down where he stood.

She removed the puffy yellow bow with the feather stuck to it, then tore at the wrapping paper; surprisingly easy, considering the sorry excuses for claws on her hands. The removing of the paper revealed a loosely shut cardboard box, and she pulled apart the single piece of clear tape holding the flaps together and lifted them open before pulling the item out of the gift box to see just what it was. The fabric object unfurled as she hoisted it into the air to examine it.

It was a cloak. The length of it extended down just past her calves, and while the fabric was lightweight, it was extremely durable. There was a large hood attached to the top of the garment, and the entirety of it was a dark shade of teal.

She was speechless; this was incredible. A perfect way to conceal herself from monsterkind during her journey, given to her by a monster himself. And she thought she'd gotten lucky finding her messenger bag back in the Ruins. This was that luck times ten.

"Dang...You must be really psyched," the young monster noted, seeing the ecstatic grin spread across her face.

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Told ya somethin' good was gonna come out of it, didn't I!? Heh heh heh heh!"

He ran off, amused by his success-faceplanting into the snow and brushing it off as nothing, just like before. Ginger picked up the mess she'd created opening the wrapped box and stored it in the box she'd previously passed, planning to dispose of it as soon as she got the chance. The one thing she didn't put in the box was the feather Snowdrake had attached to the bow; when she saw him again, she'd give him a hearty thanks-probably in the form of more puns, and maybe keep the molted feather as a reminder of his kind act. She carefully slid the feather into one of the side pockets of her messenger bag then snuck over behind the restaurant to avoid being seen by potential enemies, slipping the cloak over her shoulders and securing the hood. Instantly, most of the cold air was blocked out; it not only made her feel warm and safe, but also, to her delight, dark and intimidating. Perfect for the environment she was travelling through.

"nice cape."

Her normal surprise at hearing the voice was replaced with a smirk, and she turned to face the short-statured skeleton.

"Shouldn't you be at home helping your brother?" she inquired.

"he said it himself; i'm too lazy...so where'd you get the new duds?"

"Let's just say a little bird came along and gave me his blessing."

"i'll buy that. now since we're both here, you wanna head inside 'n' grab some grub with me instead of hanging around the corner like a gangster? you won't regret it. trust me."

"Beats the former."

So the human followed him inside. There was the chatter of several different monsters filling the atmosphere with noise, some of which she recognized as the dog monsters that had attacked her earlier, and the appetizing smell of cooked meat wafted through the facility. It didn't smell like vole or rat. It smelled more...savory. She wondered what it was.

"What're the dogs all doing here?" she whispered to him, hoping they wouldn't recognize her and attack again...though she wasn't sure how likely the latter was.

"oh. they must be on break, too. they make up a specific branch of the royal guard called the canine unit. it's called that because...well...duh."

"The Canine Unit, huh?"

"they're exclusive to snowdin, since they handle the weather around here so well. normally they do their job pretty well, but sometimes they can get, uh...kinda distracted."

"I know what you mean," she whispered back, quietly enough so that the dogs' acute ears wouldn't pick up their speech.

They did notice Sans, however, and soon enough, everyone in the building was adding to a stream of "'Sup"s, and "Heya, Sans-y"s, and similar greetings.

"You must be pretty popular here."

"you could say i have a pretty good audience. here. this is the best spot."

They approached the bar, where two empty stools were waiting. There was another monster manning the bar; if she weren't underground with a bunch of monsters already, she would have immediately guessed that the person was a human that had been set alight and was oblivious to the fact he was burning to death, his spectacled eyes trained on a glass he was cleaning. Ginger sat down.

And the sound of someone breaking wind immediately filled her ears.

She looked down where she sat and found something pink and rubbery situated beneath her.

"whoops," Sans remarked, the smile on his face just a big bigger than usual. "watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopie cushions on the seats."

She gave him a look.

"guilty as charged. so, whadaya want, kid? burger or fries?"

"Think I'll have the burger."

"awesome. yo, grillby. double order o' burg."

The flaming creature gave a nod and retreated to the kitchen.

"so, tell me. what do you think of my brother."

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of him. In a way, you were right; he is pretty cool."

"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit everyday. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to."

"Never?"

"nope. try as i might i can't convince him to wear anything else. oh well. at least he washes it...and by that i mean he wears it in the shower."

Ginger snorted.

"I guess that's one way of doing it, huh?"

"you could say that...oh. here comes the grub."

Grillby returned with two steaming entrées on platters and placed them before the waiting customers. Ginger's eyes widened at the sight of her meal; a juicy meat slab cooked to perfection and sandwiched between two toasted buns, complemented with the inclusion of several different vegetables and melty cheese.

A fine-looking piece of human cuisine if she ever saw one. And it smelled even better.

"want some ketchup?" the skeleton offered, showing off a bottle of the condiment.

"No, I...think this is satisfactory enough," she replied, taking it in her hands, mouth watering.

"okay. more for me."

And Ginger watched, quite surprised, yet also somewhat impressed, as he proceeded to chug the entire ketchup bottle in one sitting.

"...How do you do that?"

"i use my mouth."

"No, I mean...No offense, but I didn't think skeletons had stomachs."

"the process is complicated. you wouldn't understand it, prob'ly. just know it's possible."

"Well...okay, then."

"anyway, cool or not, you gotta admit papyrus tries real hard."

"No doubt about that," the human answered, following up by finally sinking her teeth into the burger. Some of the juice from the tender meat trickled down her chin, and she wiped it away with her arm as she savored the bite she'd taken.

"yeah. like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard. get this; one day, he went to undyne's house...we've talked about her before, right?"

"Captain of the Royal Guard that wants me dead?" she confirmed, swallowing the burger piece.

"that's the one. so anyway, papyrus went to her house and begged her to let him join. of course, she slammed the door in his face because it was midnight."

"What gave him-" Her speech was interrupted by her absent-minded eating of the incredible sandwich.

"-Gerve em de idea to dr it at dert hour?" she finished with a full mouth.

"he doesn't really...sleep that often, he's got so much in him. so as i was saying, when she woke up the next morning, she found him still standing there. seeing just how dedicated he was, she went ahead and started giving him warrior training."

"I assume it's coming along well, from what I've seen?"

And she bit into the burger again.

"it's, uh...still a work in progress, to say the least."

"Mmph..." she acknowledged, her mouth too stuffed to emit a coherent sentence. When she finally swallowed, she gave her word.

"Well, there's definitely progress. If Papyrus is considered weak, I'm scared to see what the captain's capable of."

"just stay on your toes and you should be fine...oh, yeah. i just remembered. i wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, man, what is it?"

She took another bite out of the meal descended from glamora, ready for whatever question Sans had to ask her.

Or so she thought.

"have you ever heard of a talking flower?"

She stopped chewing, then slowly turned her head towards him, eyes wide with horror. She swallowed, forgetting all about how good the food tasted. Sans...He knew about...

"...Yes," she almost breathed. "...I have."

"so you know all about it...the echo flower."

"Wait...the what?"

"echo flowers. they're all over waterfall. say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over again until they hear something new. how 'bout that?"

"...Yeah."

Echo Flowers? This wasn't what she'd expected him to talk about. It sounded like Echo Flowers were a collective species that just repeated noise. She'd expected some more knowledge about-

"well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day."

"What'd he tell you?"

"he said that sometimes, when no-one else is around...a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery, advice, encouragement...predictions."

Predictions. No ordinary flower could do that.

...But HE could.

"weird, huh? someone must be using an echo flower to pull some sort of prank on him."

Ginger didn't say anything. She just stared at him, looking badly haunted.

"...just keep an eye out and tell me if you see anything like that, alright, kid?"

She gave a barely discernible nod.

"thanks."

Sans got up from his seat; Ginger was too stunned to notice that he hadn't even touched his burger.

"welp, that was a long break," he commented. "i can't believe i let you pull me away from work for that long."

The human just sat there, reflecting on the conversation the two had just had, and pairing it with her own memories.

"oh, uh, by the way...i'm flat broke. mind footing the bill? it's just 10000G."

"Huh, what?"

She snapped back up, not sure if she heard him right.

"S-sorry...It sounded like you asked me to pay ten th-"

"i'm just messin' with ya. hey grillby. put it on my tab."

And she watched as he headed towards the exit.

"...by the way," he added, pausing for a bit before continuing. "...i was gonna say something, but i forgot what it was. whatever. maybe i'll remember later."

And he left out the door. Ginger reflected back on what he'd said; was it true? Was Flowey still up to no good? The last thing he said to her went through her mind.

"_I'll be watching. Every move you make, every step you take...I'll be watching you. Ehee hee...hee hee...ha ha..._"

...Was he watching her...right now?

She shuddered, then pushed everything negative out of her mind; she was stronger than Flowey, evident by how she'd nearly killed him in cold blood before he could provide information on her knew time-travelling and world-altering abilities...Why was Flowey so terrible? She couldn't find any clear motivation for his actions; he was just a flower who hated everybody, it seemed. Maybe if they met again, she could talk him onto a different path? Granted he didn't try to hurt anyone...especially the carefree skeleton that he'd supposedly been paying private visits to. If he tried that, then, knowing he was a real threat, THAT would be good enough reason to kill him, other than her hatred of the maniacal weed.

She got off her own bar stool; the whoopie cushion was still sitting there, she noted. Typical Sans...It was strange. Despite having only known the brothers for a handful of hours, it seemed like they were all close friends already. She trusted them, and they could put their trust in her, as well; if anything-or anyONE ever threatened to hurt them, she'd gladly make sure they never walked again.

...Okay, maybe she wouldn't take it THAT far, but at least enough to deal a nasty bruise.

She finished off the last of the burger on her plate, gave Grillby a thankful nod, then went on her way, turning east. Next stop: the house.

Curiously, she peeked inside Papyrus's mailbox before heading in the door to see if anything had arrived for him; it might be a nice gesture to fetch him his mail. But there was nothing inside. Sans's box, on the other hand, was crammed full; it looked like it would burst any minute. The lazybones probably never checked it.

She rapped her knuckles against the wooden door, removing her hood and pushing the cloak off her shoulders as she awaited an answer, letting it flow behind her like a cape; she figured she'd given the chap enough time to fix the place up if what he said about it being fairly clean to begin with was true.

Sure enough, the door as answered mere seconds after the knock. And sure enough, it was just who she'd expected.

"AH, THE HUMAN ARRIVES!" he exclaimed. "MAKE YOURSELF AT-"

He paused, then seemed to sniff...and then look down at the human with a disapproving look on his face.

"HUMAN...MY BROTHER DIDN'T HAPPEN TO TAKE YOU TO GRILLBY'S, DID HE?"

"How could you tell?" she asked with a shrug, entering the household.

"OH, THAT BONEHEAD! NEXT TIME I SEE HIM, YOU CAN BET HE AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A GOOD LONG TALK! HE IS _SUCH_ A BAD INFLUENCE."

"What's wrong with Grillby's? That place is awesome."

"TWO THINGS, HUMAN: GREASE AND GRIT. THAT PLACE HAS NO CLASS, AND MY HATRED OF GREASE RUNS DEEP LIKE A RIVER. THE FIRST TIME I WENT THERE-WHICH WAS ALSO THE LAST, MIGHT I ADD-I ENDED UP WITH THE MELTED LARD ALL OVER MYSELF, AND THE ENTIRE CANINE UNIT NEARLY CHASED ME ALL THE WAY TO NEW HOME! APPARENTLY, UNLESS YOU'RE SANS, IT'S A BAD IDEA FOR SOMEONE MADE OF BONES TO SMELL OF GREASE AROUND A PACK OF HUNGRY DOGS."

"Yeesh. If I were you, I'd have had a bone to pick with them."

"WELL, I'M CERTAINLY GLAD YOU...WAIT...WAS THAT A-"

"Perhaps," she snickered.

The skeleton fell to his knees and let out a scream of anguish.

"I HAVE GOT TO KEEP MY BROTHER AWAY FROM YOU! HE'S RUBBING OFF ON YOU LIKE POLISH ON ARMOR."

He sighed, then got back onto his feet to try and regain his dignity.

"FORGET ABOUT THAT GRASEBALL OF A RESTAURANT! I HAVE SOMETHING MUCH BETTER THAN ANYTHING THAT THEY COULD TRY SERVING UP!"

"Uh, maybe later; I'll be able to enjoy it more with an empty stomach."

"HMM...FAIR POINT. GRILLBY'S CAN BE QUITE FILLING, AND ONCE AGAIN I BLAME THE GREASE FOR THAT! VERY WELL! I SHALL HOLD OFF ON MY CULINARY MASTERPIECE FOR THE TIME BEING! AS OF NOW, CARE FOR ME TO GIVE YOU THE GRAND TOUR?"

"Don't mind if I do."

"LET'S START OUT IN MY FAVORITE PART OF THE HOUSE; THE KITCHEN!"

She followed him into the room on the far right, and her eyes were immediately drawn up towards the lower cabinet of the sink; it stretched taller than Papyrus himself, and by a good couple of feet.

"IMPRESSED? I INCREASED THE HEIGHT OF THE SINK SO I COULD FIT MORE BONES UNDERNEATH IT! IT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF THE ATTACKS THAT MISS...THANKS TO THE BATTLE WITH YOU, I HAVE A WHOLE NEW STOCK TO PUT IN THERE! GO ON AND HAVE A LOOKSEE!"

She opened the cabinet, hoping that the bones wouldn't umble out all over her, seeing how many could fit inside it. But to her surprise, the cabinet was completely empty, except for...

"WHAT!?"

It was that same little white dog that'd sabotaged his special attack earlier, having made good work of Papyrus' collection. It jumped back onto its feet and made a beeline for the door, running right under the skeleton's legs and through a small doggy flap.

"CURSES!"

*_**WAH-WAH-WAAAAHHHH**_*

The two of them looked up the stairs just in time to see Sans retreat back into his room with a trombone in hand.

"**SANS!**" his younger brother screamed. "**STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH INCIDENTAL MUSIC!**"

Ginger did nothing but look on at the scene in amusement.

"...He's not bad."

"HE'D PROBABLY BE BETTER AT IT IF THAT WASN'T THE _ONLY THING HE EVER PLAYED_. OH, WELL..."

"Say, ah, whadaya call this big doohickey here, huh?" she inquired, scanning over the giant black rectangular screen positioned on a cabinet against the wall.

"WHAT DO WE CALL IT? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING YOUR WHOLE LIFE? UNDER A ROCK?"

"How'd you guess?"

It wasn't exactly a lie; the Pure One palace was essentially a giant, hollowed out rock formation, and it was big enough to house the good two thousand owls that resided in it, which had included Ginger. And even with that number on a steady incline, the monarchs claimed that the base could easily hold another thousand.

"HM...ROCKS MUST NOT BE AS TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED AS MOUNTAINS, I ASSUME...ANYWAYS, WE CALL THIS A TELEVISION; IT PROVIDES INSTANTANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT FOR WE MOUNTAIN FOLK!"

"...How so?"

"ALLOW ME TO DEMONSTRATE!"

He picked something up off the side table beside the couch next to a book, then pointed it at the T.V., flicking it on.

"OOH, MY FAVORITE SHOW IS ON!"

He flung himself onto the couch, his mitted fists clenched eagerly. Ginger positioned himself beside him, curious as to what kind of taste he had.

On the screen there were two figures; one was blocky and rectangular, and he actually appeared to be made entirely of metal, his tube-like arms ending in white gloves. The only thing holding him up was a tiny wheel on a rod.

"_**I'LL BE THE ONE WHO DECIDES WHEN IT'S OVER!**_" it drawled, holding the second figure in his arms; it turned out to be a stuffed version of himself. "_**YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME NOW! I'LL BE SO ALONE! WHY MUST YOU LEAVE ME!? WHY!?**_"

"_**...**_"

"_**OH, WHY MUST YOU GIVE ME THE SILENT TREATMENT? CAN YOU NOT SEE I'M GIVING IT MY ALL?!**_"

"_**...**_"

"_**OH, NO...I'VE BROKEN YOUR HEART ONE TOO MANY TIMES, HAVEN'T I...!? YOU'RE...FALLING! NO! DON'T FALL DOWN ON ME! PLEASE DON'T! I NEED YOU!**_"

"I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS EPISODE...IT LOOKS LIKE I'VE MISSED SOME OF IT, HOWEVER. WHAT DO YOU THINK, HUMAN?"

"This is confusing...Who is that guy and why is he being so dramatic about a stuffed dummy?"

"MY GOODNESS, YOU REALLY HAVE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK YOUR WHOLE LIFE! THAT'S METTATON! THE GREATEST STAR IN THE ENTIRE UNDERGROUND! HE RUNS ALL OF THE BEST T.V. SHOWS...BECAUSE HE RUNS ALL OF THEM! EVERY SINGLE ONE! HE'S MADE LIFE DOWN HERE THAT MUCH MORE INTERESTING WITH HIS CREATIVE INGENUITY, YOU KNOW?"

"...His acting partner is just himself. How is that creative?"

"IT'S A DIVERSION OF EXPECTATIONS! ANYWAY, IF YOU THINK THIS IS A BORE, I COULD ALWAYS JUST PULL ONE OF THE DVDS OUT OF THE ENTERTAINMENT CENTER!"

"The whats?"

"HOLD THAT THOUGHT, HUMAN."

He flicked the television back off and made his way to the small set of cabinets holding it off the floor; inside was a collection of small, thin boxes, barely thick enough to house a small snake. The skeleton pulled out four or five in one hand and displayed them for the human to scan over.

"**_Mettaton Soap Opera: Season 1_**"

"**_Mettaton Soap Opera: Season 2_**"

"**_Cooking with Mettaton: The Best_ _Entrees_**"

"_**The Great Mettaton Standup Collection**_"

Every last one of the DVD cases featured the rectangular celebrity, making a different pose and doing a different action on each of them. Papyrus opened one of the cases and pulled out something round and flat; when the light reflected off of it at a certain angle, Ginger could see several different colors reflecting off of it like a prism.

"SEE, IT'S REALLY QUITE SIMPLE; YOU SLIDE THE DVD INTO THE PLAYER, WAIT FOR THE MENU TO COME UP, MAKE A SELECTION AND IT DOES THE REST! AND ALL COMMERCIAL FREE!"

"Wow...Technology nowadays sure is something."

"AND THIS IS ONLY A HANDFUL COMPARED TO MY VAST COLLECTION! YOUR THOUGHTS?"

"I, uh...Can't say it's my thing."

"REALLY?"

"He seems...weird. Dunno why; just does."

"CURIOUS...THOUGH I CAN'T SAY THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SOMEONE'S TURNED HIM DOWN."

"Oh, really? Who was the first?"

"NONE OTHER THAN UNDYNE HERSELF! ACTUALLY, I BELIEVE SHE TOLD ME SHE'S MET HIM IN PERSON BEFORE...SHE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT THE MEETUP, SO I'M NOT SURE OF THE DETAILS...IT'S A SHAME, REALLY; YOU REMIND ME SOMETHING OF THE CAPTAIN; I FEEL LIKE IF YOU WEREN'T A HUMAN, YOU TWO WOULD GET ALONG QUITE WELL!"

"I dunno about that, Papyrus..."

"AH, IT WAS NOT TO BE, IT SEEMS...SHE'S EVEN MORE VEHEMENT ABOUT CAPTURING YOU THAN I WAS."

"I've been told...So, I'm guessing your room is the one across from his?"

"THAT'D BE CORRECT! CARE TO TAKE A PEEK?"

"Way ahead of you, pal."

She was already peering up the stairs. The skeleton passed her, skipping several steps with those long legs of his, making it to the top in just five steps.

"OH, REALLY?"

"I see whatcha did there..."

"NYEH! NOW I'M THE ONE WHO'S WAY AHEAD!"

He opened the door to his personal chamber and let himself in. The human was quick to follow.

"Huh...Not bad."

"IMPRESSIVE, ISN'T IT? A PERSON AS GREAT AS MYSELF DOES NEED AS GREAT A PLACE TO MAKE HIMSELF AT HOME, AFTER ALL!"

Ginger's eyes were drawn to what looked like another television...but this one was smaller, and had other devices attached that the T.V. lacked. The monitor was on, and on the top of the screen was the word "**UNDERNET**". Below looked like a series of written conversations.

"AH, THE INTERNET! I'M QUITE POPULAR THERE, YOU KNOW. I'M ONLY A DOZEN AWAY FROM A DOUBLE DIGIT FOLLOWER ACCOUNT!"

"Oh, really? That's...wait..."

_A double digit follower account...but if he's a dozen away from...Wouldn't that make it a negative...Somethin' don't add up._

"ALAS; WITH GREAT FAME COME THOSE WHO WISH TO TAKE IT FOR THEMSELVES. MY ONLINE PERSONA HAS, UNFORTUNATELY, BEEN SABOTAGED BY A JEALOUS TROLL. ALL HE DOES, WHOEVER HE IS, IS MAKE BAD JOKES ON MY FRONT PAGE USING A WACKY-LOOKING TEXT FONT! IT DRIVES ME INSANE!"

She took a look at some of the text written on the lower part of the screen.

"**is your refrigerator running?**"

"**WHY, YES! WHY DO YOU ASK?**"

"**you better go catch it, then.**"

"Bad jokes, huh? Ghee, I wonder who could be behind all that...?"

Papyrus didn't catch the hint, however, and merely shrugged, closing out of the tab he had opened.

"ANYWAY, ENOUGH TALK ABOUT MISFORTUNE! WE'VE A ROOM TO TOUR!"

He explained all of the standard things; the closet, the collection of action figures on his side table, his flashy racecar bed, the box of bones he'd used in the battle with her earlier(which, fortunately, the troublesome dog had failed to reach) and he finished off by showing her something pinned up on the far wall.

It was a black flag, sporting a skull, not unlike his own, and crossbones.

"NOW THIS IS ONE OF MY PRIZED POSSESSIONS!" he explained. "UNDYNE AND I FOUND IT AT THE GARBAGE DUMP DURING A TRAINING SESSION!"

"The garbage dump?"

"WHY, YES! THAT'S ONE OF OUR ONLY CONNECTIONS TO THE WORLD ABOVE! THINGS THE HUMANS THROW AWAY FLOW DOWN HERE FROM THE SURFACE! A LOT OF IT IS JUST JUNK, BUT EVERY SO OFTEN, YOU FIND A REAL DIAMOND IN THAT ROUGH! I'M SURPRISED AT SOME OF THE THINGS YOU HUMANS THROW AWAY!"

"Like, uh...What kinds of diamonds in the rough have you found?"

"WELL, THERE'S OF COURSE, THIS COOL FLAG! BUT A LOT OF OLD SCRAP METAL COMES DOWN HERE, AS WELL, AND OCCASIONALLY SOME DVDS AND OLD WORN CLOTHING, STICKS, PIPES...WELL, THE STICKS AND PIPES AREN'T ALL THAT USEFUL ON THEIR OWN, BUT THEY COULD PROBABLY BE MADE INTO SOMETHING."

"Say...I might consider paying a visit there," Ginger replied, intrigued by the idea of useful things to scavenge. "Where's this place at?"

"IT'S A WAYS INTO WATERFALL! YOU'LL KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT! JUST KEEP AN EYE OUT IF YOU PLAN ON GOING THERE IF YOU'RE NOT KEEN ON BEING CAPTURED; UNDYNE PATROLS THE AREA ON A REGULAR BASIS, AND SHE'S QUITE FOND OF THAT PLACE, AS WELL."

"I'll keep that in mind. In fact, that place just might be my saving grace in the event we do run into each other. You said scrap metal fell through to here sometimes?"

"QUITE A LOT OF IT, ACTUALLY!"

"Hmm...That's something I could use...Is that shed to the east of here yours?"

"IT IS! IT'S WHAT I LIKE TO CALL 'THE CAPTURE ZONE!' I PLANNED ON USING IT TO CONTAIN YOU IN THE CASE YOU LOST THE BATTLE AGAINST ME...BUT SINCE WE'RE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS, NOW, I DON'T SEE THE NEED TO DO SO."

"Actually, I might take it up willingly if nobody else it using it; gives me a place to work and plan things out."

"THAT CAN BE ARRANGED! MEET ME OUTSIDE, HUMAN! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

He bolted out of the room and back down the stairs, Ginger trying to keep up with his impressively swift gait. When she finally stepped outside where Papyrus was waiting, the cold air hit her bare legs and cut through the worn sweater, so she wrapped the cloak around herself again and pulled the hood up. The skeleton unlocked the shed, and they stepped inside; there was a light on, but it had no heating system like the house. Even so, it was still warmer than it was out in the open. There was nothing inside except for a dog bed, a food bowl, a water dish, and another set of..."bars" the skeleton had crafted to imprison humans within the building. Just like the ones above the bridge past the Ruins, they were too wide to keep anything contained.

"MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE, HUMAN! OH, AND DON'T MIND THE FOOD IN THE DISH. FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, I NOW DOUBT THAT HUMANS EAT THAT STUFF."

She peered over into the bowl to find that it was full of dry dog food. Yeah, he was right; maybe that little white dog would come back and eat it at some point.

"IF YOU NEED ME, HUMAN, I'LL BE IN THE HOUSE CATCHING UP ON MY PROGRAMMING! JUST NOTIFY EITHER ME OR MY BROTHER IF YOU DECIDE TO PAY A VISIT TO THE GARBAGE DUMP! I'LL RETURN IN AN HOUR TO SEE HOW THINGS ARE GOING IF YOU HAVEN'T LEFT YET! NYEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

And he left Ginger to her own accords.

"Okay, let's see..." she mumbled to herself, slipping the messenger bag off from inside the cloak and putting it in the far corner. She unzipped it and peered inside; she still had 29G; a decent enough chunk of dough. And...

She still had that slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

The human sighed, wondering if Toriel would answer if she tried calling her again. She pulled the cellphone out of her pocket, flipped it open and pressed the green button; same as usual. It rang once...twice...thrice...

***Nobody picked up.**

Same luck as last time. Why wouldn't she answer? Ginger shut the bag again; she wasn't so sure she wanted to eat it. Just looking at it made her think of when she-

"HUMAN!"

"_Gyah!_"

Papyrus barged back into the shed without warning.

"I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT NEED THESE IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE MAKING PLANS! SO YOU DON'T FORGET ANYTHING!"

He dropped a few items at her feet; a sturdy book, several sheets of blank paper, a couple of pencils and a sharpener.

"This'll come in handy! Thanks, man!"

"NOTHING THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN'T HANDLE! FAREWELL FOR NOW, HUMAN! OH, AND BY THE WAY, I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT IMPRESSIVE-LOOKING CLOAK ON YOU BEFORE. WHERE DID YOU GET IT FROM?"

"Your brother asked me the same thing. I just told him a little bird came along and gave me his blessing."

"OH, AN ANNONYMOUS GOOD DEED DOER, EH? WELL, THAT MAKES IT ALL THE MORE INTERESTING! CARRY ON!"

He left once more, leaving the human well-supplied. Ginger straightened the pieces of paper, then examined one of the pencils. Usually, owls used molted feathers dipped in ink to write with, and humans had once done the same. Ginger thought the old way made one look more sophisticated while writing, but she had to admit, the wood-encased graphite was less messy. And it could be erased by the rubber on the other side of the writing utensil in the event of a mistake.

And that was when she felt her stomach growl again.

Hadn't she just eaten a huge-tail burger? Why was she still hungry? It felt like she'd eaten nothing more than a single cricket.

"Ugh...I guess I'll ask him about that spaghetti."

"burger not enough for ya?"

"Hi, Sans."

Now she was growing to expect him to appear at random times.

"Apparently not," she admitted, turning to face him. "At this rate, I'm going to be out of shape by the time I get out of here if I keep eating every hour."

"don't count on it. i think i have an explanation for you."

"And what would that be?"

"monster food is different from human food. it's made with magic, so instead of passing through the entire system, it just stays in your stomach for a bit, then immediately spreads to the rest of your system, providing nourishment and healing any wounds you might have to a certain extent. might not interact with humans the same way it does with us. from what i've read, human food passes through the entire system, and whatever the body doesn't use is, uh...gotten rid of, is that right?"

"Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about."

"heh...so, you're thinkin' about visiting the trash zone? i guess that place is pretty cool, but my brother likes it there more than me. it's so quiet ii usually just end up conkin' out on a pile o' junk whenever i go there."

"What does Papyrus think of that?"

"not very highly."

"I didn't think so," she chortled. "I'm gonna go see about that spaghetti he's been talking about. You?"

"have fun. i'll make sure to attend your funeral."

"Come on, Sans, it's spaghetti. How bad can it be?"

"well, i warned you. monster food might not spoil on its own, but it can come into the world that way. oh, and by the way, that dog's back."

Ginger turned around to see the white dog eating away at the kibble in the bowl; must have been hungry itself. And then it proceeded to come up to Ginger, lick one of her legs with its wet little doggy tongue, then escape through the flap in the shed door. And as expected, Sans was gone when she turned to face him again.

She shrugged, then left the shed herself, knowing Papyrus wouldn't mind her coming this soon to ask about his pasta. She re-entered the cabin; the television was on, and Papyrus was sitting there watching Mettaton on the screen, an unnatural look of concern in his eye sockets. She paid closer attention to the screen to see just what was worrying him. It didn't look like a drama show being broadcasted, rather it looked like...

News.

"_**THE CAPTAIN SAYS SHE WAS TIPPED OFF BY SNOWDIN LOCAL JERRY, WHO SAYS TO HAVE GOTTEN THE INFORMATION FROM AN ECSTATIC, ARMLESS MINOR!**_" the robot announced. "**_ACCORDING TO WHAT WAS HEARD, THE HUMAN IS STILL IN SNOWDIN! CAPTAIN UNDYNE! YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SITUATION?_**"

Ginger froze. There on the screen was a dark, humanoid figure clad in armor from head to toe, and it flung an arm out blocked out the camera pointed at it. THAT was her.

"_**I'M NO MIND READER, BUT I TAKE THAT AS AN 'I DON'T WANT TO BE FILMED ON PUBLIC TELEVISION, BUT YOU CAN BET I'M GOING TO FREAKING MURDER THAT HUMAN IF I EVER SEE THEM'! BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! IF A HUMAN IS INDEED WANDERING THE UNDERGROUND, THEN FREEDOM MAY BE CLOSER THAN WE COULD HAVE EVER DREAMED!**_"

"Uh-oh..."

* * *

**A/N: Oh, boy. I guess Monster Kid wasn't as careful as we hoped he'd be. We're finishing up in Snowdin and we're gonna move on to Waterfall here in the next chapter. I've been waiting for that part for a while; I think it's gonna be REALLY fun to write out encounters with the Waterfall monsters...especially Aaron and the Temmies...Actually, I don't know if the Temmies are going to appear in the next chapter or a few after that; the number of words per chapter is usually somewhere between six and seven thousand and I don't want to make a chapter that's too long. But even if it does take more than one, you can bet it's going to be amusing!**

**Thanks for reading, fellas! Oh, and a quick shout-out to user artfully for leaving...hold on, let me count...four reviews! Glad you're enjoying this as much as I am! :D**

**I had this skeleton-involved chapter finished just in time, didn't I? Happy Spooktober!**


	11. Chapter 9: Peril in the Falls

"Down there!"

Tarn looked down at one of the old trees; his student was pointing down at something sticking out from a notch in the bark. The Burrowing Owl made a steep bank and turned back towards the unidentified object to better examine it.

It was a feather; a Barn Owl's feather, probably coming from the bird's back. And it matched Ginger's color perfectly.

"Good eye, soldier! Wind's still blowin south, and judging by the angle it blew into the tree, I'd say she went north towards..."

He turned in that direction, and there, not far in the distance, was a single mountain. The trees just barely extended up past its base, and up from there, it was covered in nothing but grass and scrub. Just like the local birds had described it.

"Mount Ebott..."

"What?" Phillip questioned.

Tarn shot forward and increased his flight speed. Sure, the whole monster thing was probably just the stuff of fairytales, but that didn't mean there weren't any hungry bobcats or raccoons hiding in the mountain cavern, both of which posed a danger to owls.

"Come on, boy! We've an owl to find!" he barked.

Upon hearing his voice, the Sooty Owl instantly knew that his instructor had a bad thought. He was usually a very collected owl, and one of good spirits; it was very rare for him to get uptight about things, even the case of an owl gone missing. Especially Ginger; he'd seen her fight off entire mobs of crows in one sitting and receive nary a scratch!

Whatever terrible thing Tarn had fathomed about the young general, he hoped it hadn't happened.

_I just hope she's safe..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Well, I'm not safe!" Ginger exclaimed. "I hate to cut this short, Papyrus, but it looks like I gotta get up and go!"

"YOU CAN CUT THROUGH WATERFALL! I'LL TRY TO KEEP HER BUSY IF I SEE HER!"

"Sounds like a plan. Just make sure she doesn't get anywhere near me!"

She rushed back out to the shed, packed her belongings back up, pulled the hood back over her head and stepped back outside, where the skeleton was waiting for her.

"I'll...see you around, Papyrus."

"HERE; TAKE THIS BEFORE YOU GET BACK ON THE ROAD, S-SINCE YOU DIDN'T GET THE CHANCE TO TRY IT EARLIER."

He handed her a warm plastic container. It was full of spaghetti, and it was probably just re-heated before she finished packing her stuff. She took it, pushed her cloak away and slid it into her bag pouch with the slice of pie.

"Thanks for that. And everything else."

"I..."

Once again, Ginger found herself being scooped clean off the ground into another embrace.

"I'M GOING TO MISS YOU, HUMAN. I KNOW WE'VE ONLY KNOWN EACH OTHER A HANDFUL OF HOURS, BUT...YOU REALLY ARE ONE OF THE CLOSEST FRIENDS I'VE EVER HAD."

Ginger didn't flinch this time; in fact, before she realized what she was doing, she returned the gesture.

"...Me too," she finally answered. "But I gotta get a move-on."

"RIGHT. GOOD LUCK, HUMAN. I'M TAKING A SHORTCUT SO I RUN INTO HER BEFORE YOU DO! I'LL BE WITH YOU IN SPIRIT!"

He put the human down and dashed ahead of her, and she followed the boot prints he left in the snow at a brisk pace. She passed over the path on which they battled, and she saw the blanket of snow on the ground begin to thin, until there was nothing left under her feet except for solid ground. A few light pebbles stuck out amongst the dark earth, and the little bit of glow the caverns gave off made the dark ground look almost indigo. The ground siding the pathway sloped and dampened until there was nothing on either side of the path but water, and smaller cascades flowed quietly down from several nooks in the earthen walls.

She was in Waterfall.

The path took a turn, and revealed a wider section of walkway. A large, blue flower was growing not far from a sentry station sitting just up ahead, which was manned by...

"Sans?"

"'sup, kid? heard about what was goin' on. just remember, if you're ever in a jam, come on over. you're always welcome."

"...Thank you."

She let out a lengthy yawn before starting again.

"tired, huh?"

"You could say that; I've been through a lot over the past few hours."

"well, i'd probably be the same if i fell down a mountain and was surrounded by things i didn't think existed."

"That reminds me...Is there a way of telling time down here?"

"we use the rotation of the earth, magnetism, stuff like that. and in case you're wondering, the time right now is..."

He pulled out his phone and had a look.

"six in the morning. now i know what you're thinking; everyone's awake. it's been night this whole time. what's up with that? well, since there's no moon or sun, we can pretty much sleep whenever we want, as long as it doesn't mess with our work. besides, some of us are nocturnal."

"Oh, really? Me, too."

"so you're a night owl too, huh? nice."

"Yeah..." She grimaced. "Night owl..."

_Why did he have to say it like that?_

"well, i'd like to sit and chat, but we've both got things we have to do. see ya later."

She nodded, waved, then finally passed the station, glancing over another box on the path as she went by, and encountering a wider, faster-flowing fall. Large stones were tumbling down with the water and rolling down into the darkness, and she stepped over them as she waded through, fighting to stand against the rushing water. Finally, she made it to the other side, and planted her feet on terra firma yet again. Ginger sat down to catch a break; six a.m., he'd said. It was just about sunrise on the surface. Shame she was going to miss it; the sunrises were always the prettiest during the autumn. She was tempted to fold up the hood of her cloak, use it as a makeshift pillow and take a nice long nap to recharge before she went any further.

But she knew that if the captain of the Royal Guard came along, she'd probably end up passing away in her sleep...Then again, Flowey had said that her ability to **Save, Load** and **Reset** came with the ability to come back from the dead, right back to where and when she last Saved...

When WAS the last time she Saved?

Uh-oh. The last thing she wanted was to be taken all the way back to Snowdin, before she went to Grillby's or anything like that if she did end up being attacked. Come to think of it...didn't she see a Save Point by Sans' station? She hadn't really acknowledged it at the time, but now she really hoped it hadn't been her imagination.

Running through the water was easier than walking through it, despite the moving rocks, and soon enough, she was back at the sentry station. Sans was snoozing.

_I thought he said you could sleep if it DIDN'T interfere with your work schedule._

But that didn't matter. The shimmering star was waiting for her in between the plant and the station, and she brushed her hand through it.

***Waterfall-Checkpoint**

***File Saved**

Before she turned back towards the waterfall, she took a peek at the bright blue flower to the left of the Save Point; was this an Echo Flower? And did they really repeat the last thing they heard over and over again? She cupped her ear to the flower; it was snoring.

_Sans..._

Oh, well. What he did was none of her business. Instead of running across the shallows to the other side again, this time she waded behind the waterfall, finding an entry way to a tiny den. The blue stones embedded within the cavern walls glimmered softly, as did the tiny blue mushrooms poking up out of the ground.

A perfect place to collect her thoughts.

She wrapped the cloak around herself a little more; it wasn't far from Snowdin, and the dampness of the area did made it even more chilly, and she was without feathers or the sort. She pulled Snowdrake's feather out of her bag pocket, wondering if she'd ever get the chance to thank him, considering the way things were going.

_...You know...This probably wouldn't look bad on the cloak somehow._

And it'd be a nice gesture, too. She smoothed the feather out, took her cloak off for a moment, trying to ignore the nippy air, and flattened the hood. She took a look at the feather's quill; it was surprisingly sharp for something of the sort. Maybe its owner had sharpened it on purpose with the thought she could use it for a pen.

_Makes this easier for me._

She poked the feather through three folds she pinched in the hood fabric, then straightened it out, and the feather held fast where it was. She spread the cloak out on her lap, then reached into her bag and pulled out the spaghetti Papyrus had made her; it came complete with a disposable fork.

Eagerly, Ginger snapped the lid off, twirled some of the noodles onto the fork, then hungrily shoved the bite into her mouth.

And she instantly raised an eyebrow.

It tasted somewhat bitter; maybe he'd used too much oil. And was that a hint of...cardboard? Did he drop the box into the pasta while it was cooking? She felt her teeth bite through something soft and unexpectedly sweet; she separated it from the noodles and the sauce, then took it out to see what it was.

A banana slice? That didn't go in tomato sauce...did it?

She plucked a meatball out of the container and popped it into her mouth after she swallowed the noodles; okay, the meatball was fine. It actually tasted somewhat like the meat in the burger she'd had at Grillby's, so that was a plus.

Alright, so Papyrus's spaghetti wasn't EXACTLY the work of a master chef, as he so often claimed, but Sans was definitely exaggerating how bad it was. She'd definitely put worse-tasting things in her mouth, and the meatballs in the dish were its saving grace.

She snapped the lid back on the container and put it back where it belonged, then slid the cloak back on and stepped out of the den. She'd have time to finish it later.

Before she could continue, she saw something attached to the dirt wall beside her. It was an odd-looking device, similar to the one she'd seen in the bushes back just outside the Ruins. The decide rotated some, and then she was faced with a round lens. Ginger felt strange looking at it. It was almost like it was...

Watching her right back.

Wait a minute. Didn't humans have devices that recorded video feed at whatever they were pointed at? Was that...

"Is..." she stammered. "I-i-is that a camera...!?"

Oh, Glaux. The last thing she needed was somebody watching her. She gave the lens a dirty look, then swiftly pulled the cloak over her head, so hard that it almost went entirely over her face, and hastily passed underneath the flow, and finally made it back to the other side. When she finished, she turned back and took a look at her reflection in the water.

The feather in the hood sloped back and upwards on the hood. She was barely able to appreciate how cool it looked before the image of the camera came back to haunt her.

_Cameras...Someone's watching me...Flowey? He could probably figure out how to work them; he's the one who's been down here for so long...I'll have a bone to pick with him, and I'll make sure I bring Sans when I see him._

She finally started down the path again. Just up ahead, the path on her left rose into a cliff, and right in the middle of the walkway was a patch of tall grass. It smelled marshy, but the ground it was growing out of was fairly dry. Interesting.

It looked like the only way to the other side was to cut right through the grass. There was no way she was swimming in the water flowing along the right of the path; not only was it probably dirty, but odds were it was cold.

"What do you mean, 'you didn't capture it!?'"

The unfamiliar voice came from the cliff rising above the path. It was somewhat muffled, and had an odd echo about it, as though its owner was wearing something metal over their face. Something metal...something like, per say...

...A helmet...?

"I-I'M SORRY. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END...I FAILED."

Ginger heard what sounded like a frustrated snarl. Well, now she knew who the voice belonged to; she could distinguish it as feminine, but it was remarkably deep and loud. It almost sounded like Nyra's voice, but even deeper than hers, and not as smooth and sophisticated, and, of course, lacking the Hoolian accent.

"Don't you grasp how important this is!?" she scolded.

"YES, I DO, BUT-"

"Forget it. I'll do it myself. And when I find it, I'll rip it to shreds and use its spattered blood as a wall decoration!"

Ginger ducked further down into the grass to avoid being seen, hoping to Glaux that this was just an exaggeration.

But from what she'd heard about Undyne, it probably wasn't.

"UNDYNE, WAIT. YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY HER! YOU SEE, SHE'S..."

"She's WHAT?" the captain spat. "Is she 'nice?' Let me tell you something; I don't give a CRAP how nice she is; it's a ruse, used to take advantage of anything and everything. She's still the scum of the earth, just like all the other ones."

The skeleton gave no response; Ginger could just imagine him shaking in those bright red boots of his.

"Don't you know what they did to us!? Don't you remember what they did to the prince!? Don't..."

Her fearsome demeanor seemed to falter, just for a moment.

"...Don't you remember what happened the last time one came down here?"

"YOU'RE...STILL UPSET ABOUT THAT, ARE YOU?"

Papyrus's voice had an unnatural sympathetic tone to it, and it got Ginger thinking; what HAD happened the last time a human fell into the Underground? Not anything good, from what she was hearing.

"...You could say that little incident was the icing on the cake. Now are you in with me on this or not?"

"...I UNDERSTAND. YES. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN."

She heard the skeleton head west, and no other sound followed. The human decided that it was safe to continue, and she pushed through a little bit more of the grass.

A series of loud, metallic noises followed her movement, and she instantly stopped short again. The loud "**_Clang clang__ clang_**" was rhythmic, like footsteps. The sound was a stark difference from the "_**ka-CHINK ka-CHINK ka-CHINK**_" that an owl in battleclaws made when it walked. And heavier, like...

Boots.

Undyne. It had to be. She'd seen her wearing her armor on the television.

She'd heard her.

Ginger peeked out from the blades of grass and watched in horror as the monster hovered over her, looking this way and that for the source of the noise. In a flash of light, she summoned something from thin air; something long and pointed, and glowing a fierce, otherworldly blue.

A spear.

She had SPEARS.

The next ten seconds felt like an eternity to the young human, but they finally ended when the foreboding creature let the spear dissipate, and she stepped back. Ginger could hear her heavy metal footsteps growing farther and farther away. She'd left.

She was in the clear.

Still careful not to make much noise, she pushed through the rest of the grass, and when she finally made it out to the other side, she let her weak knees cave in underneath her, and she collapsed. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute, she could barely get her breathing to slow down. Her brow was beaded with a cold sweat.

She felt like she was going to pass out any moment.

Finally, she regained her breath, and tried to stand back up. Right when she did, she was alerted to the sound of something else in the grass. Ginger turned...

And she saw that armless lizard monster from back in Snowdin, the biggest smile spread across his face.

"Yo!" he greeted ecstatically. "Did you SEE the way she was staring at you! That. Was. AWESOME! What'd you do to get her attention, huh!? I wanna be able to do that!"

It was THEN that Ginger remembered that this was the kid who'd told that Jerry guy on the news about her, who it turn tipped off the captain who'd just about murdered her right there in the grass. He'd essentially ratted her out. It was HIS fault.

"Y-yo...you okay? Come on! I know what'll make you feel better! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!"

He seemed oblivious to what he'd just caused, running ahead of her and falling on his face again before going on his way. Ginger almost wanted to give him a piece of her mind...and maybe a taste of her open glove, while she was at it, but something was stopping her from carrying her thoughts out.

He was only a child, and he had only intended to help her. And help her he actually did, since one of the more trustworthy monsters he'd visited had given her the cloak she now wore. She couldn't toss the notion of his kindness aside for an honest mistake.

Another Save Point caught her attention, and she was quick to interact with it; she wanted to save as much as she could with the captain on the prowl.

***Waterfall-Hallway**

***File Saved**

Good. Now she could keep going. She went into the next part of the dark cavern, and she noticed a plaque on the dirt wall, similar to the onesin the Ruins. But this was a black slate instead of a white one, and the text was the same soft blue as the pebbles and mushrooms she'd seen.

"**When four Bridge Seeds align in the water, they will sprout.**"

She looked ahead; there was a break in the path, full of gently flowing water, and four of the so-called bridge seeds were scattered about to her left. Was she supposed to float them through the water until they made a path for her to cross over? That sounded about right.

The human was just about to try it out when the phone rang.

_Toriel?_ she hoped. Maybe she noticed that she'd missed Ginger last two calls. I'd like to hear her voice right about now...

She answered.

"Hello?"

"_GREETINGS, HUMAN!_"

Papyrus? Well, it was the next best thing she could ask for.

"How'd you get this number?"

"_SIMPLE! I JUST DIALED DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL I PUT IN THE RIGHT ONE!_"

Well, he certainly got lucky.

"_HOW ARE THINGS ON YOUR END OF THE LINE? I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I JUST HAD A FEW WORDS WITH UNDYNE CONCERNING THE SITUATION. SHE, UH...DOESN'T LOOK LIKE BUDGING AT THE MOMENT ON THE WHOLE 'CAPTURE' THING. AND WHAT'S WORSE IS THAT SHE DOESN'T JUST WANT TO CAPTURE YOU...NYEH HEH..._"

"I know; I heard everything. I was right there in the grass below the cliff."

"_OH, MY...IT'S A GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T MAKE ANY NOISE._"

"...Yeah..."

"_ANYWAY, I HAVE AN IDEA. TRY TO MEANDER A BIT THROUGH WATERFALL; ODDS ARE SHE THINKS YOU'RE GOING TO CUT STRAIGHT THROUGH SO YOU CAN GET TO THE CAPITAL FASTER. AND I'LL TRY MY BEST TO KEEP HER DISTRACTED! WHO KNOWS! MAYBE SOME OF THE LOCAL MONSTERS WILL ALSO BE KEEN ON HELPING YOU OUT!_"

"We'll see about that last part. But I gotta go. It looks like I have some more puzzles to solve."

"_GOOD LUCK! ERM...MAYBE, IF WE CAN MANAGE IT, WE COULD SNEAK YOU BACK TO SNOWDIN SOME TIME IF WE GET HE CHANCE? THAT WOULD REALLY THROW HER OFF YOUR TAIL ONCE THE CHASE HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH._"

"I'll consider it. And by the way, I tried your spaghetti; it needs improvement but at least it's edible!"

She said the last part quickly and hung up; as much as she wanted to hear his response, she had things to do.

She drifted the unopened flower buds across the water until they were all lined up neatly in a straight line. And the moment she finished with the last one, they unfurled, and the soft pink and blue petals spread out wide for her to walk across. They shifted ever so lightly with her movement as she treaded across them, and when she made it to the other side, she looked back at them; fortunately, her dirty footprints were nowhere to be found on the enormous flowers. She breathed in; the aquatic blooms gave off a scent as sweet and soft as their pastel colors.

She moved on, crossing over a small wooden bridge, and she took one last look at the four Bridge Seed Flowers.

"...They really are nice."

"Tell me about it."

"What the-!?"

Someone poked their head out of the water and jumped out onto the shore, right next to her. The strange hybrid creature had the head of a horse, exceedingly muscular human arms, and a long, green, somewhat eel-like tail in the place of legs.

"You know, if you were to hold up all those blooms in the mirror, you'd see the five prettiest things in the world."

He pointed and flashed her a wink.

"Buh-SCUSE me?" Ginger exclaimed. "Who do you think you are?"

"Name's Aaron. And even if you don't have a library card, you can check me out all you want."

He proceeded to flex his muscular arms...and then a series of similarly-shaped bullets came her way. Ginger made a face, and hastily dodged the attacks.

"Go back in the water where you belong," she said to him.

"Come on, you'll change your mind."

"I'm-"

She saw another array of bullets headed her way, and she spoke while she swerved around them.

"Taken! I'm taken, Aaron!"

"Well, it's no wonder, is it? But how well can he flex?"

He tensed his muscles again, striking a pose.

"Get out of here, you creeper."

"Aw, man..."

Finally giving up the case, Aaron retreated back into the water.

But not before leaving a good 30G on the edge of the bank.

"Call me."

And with another wink, he retreated back into his watery abode.

"Yeah, I don't think so," the human replied, though she took the gold anyway; she might need it for something better later on.

The path continued due north, and there were more Bridge Seeds waiting to be aligned; it looked like if she aligned them vertically, they would connect the land and allow her to pass to the next cavern. She pushed two of them along through the water, and then realized something...

She could probably clear the one shorter distance in a jump, like she'd done with a similarly-sized gap in the floor of the Ruins.

She backed up, then ran and leapt over the hole, her show almost pushing down into the water as it pressed down the unopened bud. Puzzles...She didn't always need to do puzzles, did she? What harm would it do? Wasn't this the way everyone got around in these parts? It wasn't like she was cheating, or anything like that. It was just thinking outside of the box.

The human entered the next cavern. The plaque on the wall directly in front of her read **"WISHING** **ROOM**", and Echo Flowers were sprouting up along the pathway. She listened to what the one to her left had to say.

"_A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. if you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling..._"

She tilted her head up, the hood of her cloak falling away as she did so. Sure enough, the dirt ceiling of the tiny earthen hallway was dotted with beautiful, glimmering white stones, and they looked very much like stars in the night sky.

Ironic, seeing that by now the sun was probably coming up on the surface. But a pretty sight nonetheless.

She listened to another Echo Flower.

"_Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that._"

The King...What was he really like?

All of a sudden, Ginger was completely doused with a blast of water that came out of nowhere!

"HEY!"

The assault of water was mixed in with white attack bullets, and she found herself taking on damage. When the mysterious attack ended, she whizzed around to find a stout, four-legged monster, pointing what looked like a hose at her. It was still dripping, and the water in his clear tank-like back was sloshing soap bubbles around its surface.

"What the hagsmire was that all about!?" she screamed at it.

"You had some tomato sauce on your cape," he replied. "Just trying to clean it off."

"There were BULLETS mixed in with that water!"

"Just trying to help," he apologized, shrinking back a bit.

Ginger looked at herself in disgust; she was cold, dripping wet and soggy, and she smelled like soap from the hood of her cloak to the soles of her sneakers.

"I-I can make it better. I promise," the monster told her.

The human sighed.

"How? What did you have in mind?"

"I can rinse the suds away, a-and then dry it. Just make sure to watch out for my white attacks and run into my green attacks. I promise, i-it'll work."

Ginger was skeptical, but if the monster could really fix her back up, then she wouldn't decline the one chance she might have for a long time.

"...Alright. Show me what you got."

"Great! Green means clean!"

The water he now sprayed was free of suds, and was notably warmer than the first blast. There were white drop-shaped bullets mixed in with the flow, and she ducked around them, grabbing two of the green drops that came her way in the spiral. Upon touching them, the wounds given to her by the first attack faded into nothing.

She was still soaked, but at least the soap was gone.

"And now for my grand finale..."

The tip of the hose the monster had used grew wider, and an enormous gust of hot air blew out, engulfing the human. This continued for about a minute, and when he finished, Ginger was completely dry. It was almost as though she'd never been soaked in the first place.

Except for the fact that she felt that much cleaner.

"Not bad," she commented. "You really did do well."

"Thank you! Now if you'll excuse me! Woshua has the whole world left to clean!"

He left 25G behind for her as he scurried off...Come to think of it, where did he keep that gold? Did the tank on his back have pockets? It was an odd thought.

The human pulled her hood back up before continuing, turning north and passing a telescope...What good would a telescope do underground? Oh, well; maybe they just liked taking closer looks at the dirt above. The human passed through a doorway, and found a row of more plaques lined up along the walls. The text written on them looked very old, and some of it had chipped away. Nonethe less, she could read it as she followed along the bridge path.

"**The War of Humans and Monsters**"

"**Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably  
****strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human SOUL.**"

"**But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist  
outside the human body, even after death.**"

"**If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human SOUL...A horrible beast  
with unfathomable power.**"

The last plaque had a drawing displayed on it, and it made Ginger shudder.

The creature in the image looked strikingly similar to Toriel, even wearing the same robe, but with longer horns, desperate black eyes, and a black streak running along each side of its face. A mob of humans was attacking it, and one of them was just about to stab the monster in the back with a dagger.

She had seen the face of war many times, but something about the assault depicted in the ancient artwork made it all the more disturbing.

The human finally pulled her eyes away, then followed along the dark, narrow bridge path taking her east. The path was very dark, and the gentle flow of the water was the only thing filling her ears.

When the bridge broadened again, Ginger looked back at the wall covered in plaques. They didn't really give a description of the supposed war itself, more tell of the powers of human and monster SOULs. Well, they hadn't been useless; they had at least explained some interesting things to her.

Her gait slowed to a crawl, and she suddenly felt very apprehensive. The waters had completely stilled, and the reeds growing out of them shifted ever so slightly with the very light air about the cavern, too light to even make the smallest ripples in the water. To her left, crude stone pillars came out from along the bank and towered above, nearly as tall as the trees in Snowdin Forest, and nearly three times as wide around. The only sound she could hear now was the light, tip-toeing sound of her own footsteps, and the small amount of light shining in from the Wishing Room cast an eerie shadow across the wooden planks.

Her shadow.

She tightened the Tough Glove on her hand and made a fist, fixing her face into a menacing glare, so that if someone took her by surprise, she'd be able to instantly flash them a scary look. As she went on, she slowly turned herself around. Her eyes and ears were wide open. The tiny hairs on her arms and legs stood on end. Ginger knew this feeling...She was tense, insecure, threatened...

And that was when she realized.

She was being watched. No, not just watched...

STALKED.

She heard the sound of magical energy conjuring from somewhere in the shadows cast by the pillars, and she bolted forward just in time to dodge something that flew right at her. She tumbled forward and rolled out of the way, then turned back around to see just what had been cast.

There, jutting out of the bridge, embedded within the wood, was a spear.

_Oh, **NO.**_

All she had to do was catch the slightest glimpse of the armored captain coming out of the shadows, and she took to her heels. This couldn't be happening yet! She wasn't ready! She wasn't anywhere near ready! She swerved with the path of the bridge; she could hear the sound of more spears being summoned and flying through the air, just missing her as she ran. One arm was held straight behind her while the other one reached up to keep the cloak's hood from flying off her face and revealing it, and she leaned forward, cutting through the air.

It was like flying on the ground.

Even so, she was barely fast enough to dodge the relentless barrage of spears being hurled at her. And she didn't want to know how painful it'd be to be hit by one.

Ginger came to a series of sharp turns. She moved with the first one, but on the second, she simply hopped the water to the other bend. And then she saw a series of the missiles coming at her from the front.

Again, she ducked and rolled along the swerve of the bridge, just barely avoiding falling into the dank marsh water before pushing herself back up and continuing her run. Another set of three pointed down and across at her, just up ahead, waiting for her to slam right into them as she ran.

She skidded to a stop just at the right moment, and the spears flew just an inch or so past her face, the tips of them tearing through the fringe of the hood as they sped across the bridge and disappeared into the water. Her heart skipped a beat; that was WAY TOO CLOSE a miss.

The rest of the bridge was a straight path that lead into another large patch of grass; if she could get there and hide herself among the plants she'd probably be able to make it out. Her legs pumped even harder, and she made a beeline for the grass, spears still flying her way.

She felt the bridge shake with the weight of something big and heavy landing on it just before she dove into the greenery. Undyne. She'd jumped out from off the bank and onto the bridge.

The human rolled farther into the grass, then once she slowed, sat tight where she was, curled up into the fetal position, turned towards the way she came in case she saw the monster's metal boots shifting through the grass and coming her way. In the position she was in, she couldn't see them yet, but she could sure as hagsmire hear them; the loud, heavy clanging sound of metal on wood.

And soon they came shifting through the grass, and the next thing Ginger knew, a dark shadow was being cast directly over her...Did she see her? Had she lost her?

The armored beast rose her arm and cast in into the grass. She felt it grab something, and she pulled out the mysterious being right by the side of its head.

...It was a kid.

The one without any arms that sometimes followed her around. The smile on his face grew even bigger as she lifted him up out of the grass to see.

As soon as she identified him, she lowered him back into the grass, somewhat confused, then stomped off back the way she came.

Right when the sound of her boots had disappeared, Ginger scrambled back onto her feet and pushed her way out of the grass, barely able to stand. Her heart felt like it was about ready to beat itself right out of her chest.

She turned back again when she heard something else come out of the grassy patch; it tured out to be that same kid again. The side of his face looked a little red, but his expression was of one who'd just won the lottery.

"Y-yo...Didja see that!? Didja!? Undyne just...She...SHE TOUCHED ME!"

"I...can tell," she replied, noting the red marks on his face where it looked like fingers had dug into.

"Oh, man, oh man, oh man, oh man! I am never. Washing. My face. EVER AGAIN!"

He seemed about ready to pass out himself, though for reasons very different from the human's.

"Boy, did you get the crummy end of the stick," he told her, shaking his head in sympathy. "If you were just a LITTLE bit more to the left, maybe you've have gotten lucky!"

"Kid...If it'd been the other way around it wouldn't have been a pretty sight."

"Why not? Sure, she beats up bad guys, but what's wrong with you?"

Did he...not know? Maybe be didn't know what humans looked like, and just thought she was another monster like everyone else. Of course, he'd never seen a human in the flesh until now, so it made sense that he didn't know.

"Yo, don't worry! We'll get another chance to see her again!"

And he took off-and faceplanted-and got back up again, disappearing down the cavern. Ginger treaded slowly behind him; she was going to need a breather after everything that just happened.

The next room had another table with cheese on it; the dairy product had been sitting there so long that it had crystalized. An Echo Flower grew next to the hole where another mouse presumably made its home, and just past it was another Save Point. Ginger went up to it and did what she always did.

***Waterfall-Crystal**

***File Saved**

After she finished that, she went to see what the blue flower had to say.

The human couldn't help but giggle a bit when she heard it squeak. And then the flower laughed right back.

She nodded. Now that she'd Saved once more, she could finally give herself that well-deserved rest.

She hunkered down right in the corner of the wall, lifting the hood farther over her head, taking the cloak in her arms and wrapping it around herself. Surely by now, the sun had come all the way up. All of her companion owls on the surface were probably sound asleep...

No...She'd been gone for so long. Somebody HAD to be looking for her up there.

That got her thinking...if one of her fellow owls found the hole she'd made the mistake of flying down, what would happen to them? Would they also turn human? Would Toriel take them in and try to keep them in the Ruins? Would she try to stop them when they tried to leave?

...Would they kill her by mistake, not knowing how weak she really was?

She hoped not. And she hoped that she could get out of the mountain before the entire Pure One fleet decided to raid the Underground if they found it.

But she had **DETERMINATION**. As long as she held fast onto her goals, she could do far more than just hope.

* * *

**A/N: Betcha didn't expect to see another update this quickly, did you? I'm not following a very strict posting schedule, so there may be some surprises along the road, but as long as I get at least one or two chapters done a week I'm satisfied. And here's a weird tip that works: if you want to keep yourself from abandoning a story, write down how it ends in your docs. This way if you don't finish the story you'll forever be plagued by that wasted ending sitting in your files. XD**

**Oh, and didja see what I did in the dialogue between Ginger and Aaron. Yes, I did do that on purpose...**

**...What do you mean, "that's a dead meme"!? I'll have you know, That meme. Will NEVER. Die. EVER.**

**Well, thanks again for reading!**

**...**

**...**

**...**

_**so we back in the mine,  
got our pickaxe swingin' from  
side to side  
side, side to side  
**_

_**this task a grueling one,  
hope to find some diamonds to-  
night, night, night  
diamonds toni-**_

**o****kay i'll shut up now...  
**


	12. Chapter 10: The Calm

She was right to think a nap would do her good; the next time she opened her eyes, she felt refreshed and ready to take on the road again. And the even better news was that she was still in the corner and not right next to the Save Point, so no Captain of the Royal Guard had come along and drove a spear through her heart while she was dozing.

She passed the Save point again and passed on through; Sans was manning a telescope next to another box and an opening in the cave.

"sleep well?"

"Were you standing there watching me the whole time?"

"not every minute. but someone's gotta make sure you don't get killed in your sleep."

"...Good point."

"i've been thinking about getting into the telescope business lately," he continued, patting the instrument beside him. "wanna give it a spin?"

"There's...not much to look at, is there?"

She looked up; the ceiling was fairly close, and she could see all of the stones just fine.

"suit yourself...if you're hungry for breakfast, go on ahead in there. guy's sellin'."

"How long was I out?"

"eh...couple hours. it's barely past nine."

"I'll see what's up. Thanks again for the help."

"whatever."

She turned and passed through a narrow hallway and into another den, not much bigger than the one she'd first tried Papyrus's spaghetti in.

And there was a familiar figure standing there. It was that rabbit guy she'd passed by in Snowdin, and he still looked to be in low spirits.

That is, until he saw her coming his way. Right when he did, his ears perked and his frown vanished.

"Oh, a-a customer!" he exclaimed. "Hey, there! Would you like a Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 25G!"

She had more than enough to make a purchase, so the deal was made.

"Here ya go! Have a super-duper day!"

She responded with a nod and a smile before making her way back out of the den. She took a gander at the wrapping on the conical object she'd been handed; it said it was chocolate flavored. She removed the flap and pulled the paper open, and it revealed that there was writing on the inside as well.

"_Have a wonderful day!" _it read.

_I'll do my best, Nice Cream guy._

The soft, frozen dollop of dairy was an odd shade of brown, and it looked like if she just kept staring at it, it'd start to melt, so went ahead and bit into it...

_...Bad idea, BAD IDEA!_

The minute she bit into the frozen dessert, shoots of pain began to plague the front of her mouth like bullets. What was WITH this stuff!?

"that's not how you eat ice cream, kid."

She gave the skeleton an odd look. She imagined herself looking very upset by the ordeal...and also fairly ridiculous with the stuff dripping down her face and her hand covering her mouth trying to conceal it.

"Is this stuff weaponized!?"

"no. that feeling's called 'when you sink your teeth into something freezing cold and the nerves in your mouth to go nuts'."

"So...That was just from how cold it was?"

"duh. haven't you ever eaten ice cream before?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I haven't."

"dang...my brother was right when he said you've been living under a rock your whole life."

"Well, you live under a mountain. Is that really much better?"

"...eh. you got me there. hey, remember to keep an eye out, kid."

She nodded in acknowledgement, then turned back onto the path, finding that it went south. Some parts of it were bridged, and the water along the path...glowed brilliantly. Maybe it was full of bioluminescent aglae? That would make for a good explanation.

Either way, it looked very strangely mesmerizing to watch as it rippled gently and made the cattails and lily pads sway.

She turned with the path as it turned east; the road was winding, and there were several breaks in the solid ground that were bridged over so that one could cross. Echo Flowers lined some parts of the path, growing up out of the dark earth. Ginger wondered how plants could grow down here without any sunlight. Even trees could grow beneath the mountain.

She rolled her eyes in disgust with herself; that was the question that'd gotten her stuck down here in the first place.

As she walked, Ginger worked at the Nice Cream-careful NOT to sink her teeth into it the way she had before. It was so soft, really, she didn't even need to chew the stuff. When eaten right, it was actually quite splendid. it was pleasantly sweet; not quite as so as Toriel's butterscotch-cinnamon pie, but it was still enough. And she'd never had chocolate before; she heard that the substance was so coveted by humans, especially female humans, that there were supposedly some concerns that the plant harvested to make it might end up going extinct.

And now she knew why; the stuff was amazing!

She stopped walking for a moment so she could focus more on the Nice Cream; after she finished the dollop, she worked down the cone. It was crunchy; an interesting contrast to its soft filling. It actually balanced the texture out quite well.

And upon reaching the point, the human discovered that the cone ITSELF was lined with chocolate on the inside.

_I'd swear I'm in glamora if I didn't know any better._

She popped the last of it into her mouth and wiped the cone crumbs off her hands. Odds were she'd probably pay the monster another visit sometime within the near future. Maybe next time she'd buy more than one, seeing how well worth the gold they were. Maybe she could bring some to the skeleton brothers if she ever went back to Snowdin.

She hoped she'd be able to go back there soon enough.

The human directed her gaze back onto the path...And there, not far ahead, was another monster.

One she recognized from the Ruins. It was one of those squishy, foul-smelling creatures that she wasn't sure had much of a brain. She tried to pass it, not minding it much...

Until it summoned an array of spore-shaped bullets.

"Oh, come on, bud..."

It didn't seem to have a brain...Did it even have eyes? Or hearing organs anywhere? The spores were at least slow enough to get around without much effort. It made a gross squishing noise after the attack finished.

"Well, '_Squish_' to you, too."

The creature made an odd lean to the side-the closest it could get to tilting its head-before sloshing away. Those things were very strange.

Finally making her way north again, she caught sight of another plaque on the dirt wall; was this a continuation of the story of the War of Humans and Monsters?

"**The power to take their SOULs...This is the power that the humans feared.**"

She figured she'd have to keep going and find more if she wanted to get the full story, so she went onward. The path narrowed, and the water stilled...It was quiet.

Too quiet.

"...Someone there?"

She spoke just loud enough to be heard; if she yelled, it could spell out her doom if the captain just so happened to be near. She knew she wasn't alone, but she wasn't sure if she was being threatened again...Was it Undyne? Was it Sans? Someone else, maybe?

Her question was answered when a long, dull yellow arm of some sort rose up out of the water...followed by an ENORMOUS head.

The strange octopus-esque creature was almost the size of a killer whale, and its very expressive face seemed delighted to see her pass through.

"...Hey, there..." it greeted, waving the tip of one of its tentacles at her. "Noticed you were...here..."

Ginger was frozen...What was she supposed to FEEL?

She didn't say anything, rather just respond with her own small wave. The awkward silence that followed prompted her to finally say something, though.

"Uh...Who are you?"

"I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, ya hear!?" she nearly hollered.

"You the only one around these parts?"

"Yeah! It's great, having this place all to myself...Waterfall's great, huh!? It's my Big Favorite."

"It is quiet, so I guess that can be a plus."

"Yeah! It's so awesome here!"

Ginger walked slowly toward the end of the hall, her eyes on the monster's giant face.

"Even though...the water's getting so shallow here," she continued. "...I have to sit down all the time..."

"Oh...That's...not a plus."

"But, he-hey! That's fine with me! It beats moving to the big city and living in a crowded aquarium!...Like all my friends did!"

"Jeez. Some friends they are," she retorted.

"Oh, well...I don't mind...It's their life! They can do what they want and I'll back them in any way I can no matter what it is!"

"Can't you go, like...join them?"

"Oh, I would...But the aquarium's full, so...Even if I wanted to, or if THEY all wanted to...But that's okay! Once the Barrier breaks, I'm gonna go live in the ocean! There I'll be able to make all sorts of new friends...maybe even the love of my life! You know what they say! There are plenty of fish in the sea!"

"Sounds like you've got big plans."

"I sure do! I'm even gonna start a band when I get on out there!"

"...A band?"

"Yeah! We're gonna have a giant stereo machine and go on tour and all that! I'm gonna call it...We're gonna be the 'Red Hot Chibi Peppers!' How's that sound!?"

"...Okay, I guess? What's a Chibi Pepper?"

"Just...something I made up for the band name...You wanna watch us perform?"

"If I ever get the chance, maybe; it's kinda hard for someone like me to stay underwater for too long."

"Well...I'll make sure we have shore tours! So people on land can see us jam!"

"You really do have some big plans!"

"I do!...Oh...You made it to the end of this room...Thanks for the chat! I'll see you around! Have a good time! In Waterfaaaaaaalllllllllllll..."

And she watched as the creature disappeared back into the water.

"Well...That was certainly something," she remarked as she headed on out of the room.

And Ginger saw a monster sitting just feet away from her, nestled in the corner of the wall along the path. Its back was turned towards the human, but it was very still, too much so to be relaxed and unaware of her presence.

"Hi?"

And then it turned its face toward her; the human reeled back in shock. Was that a fish of some sort? She made an odd series of noises, and the bullets she cast were shaped like...musical notes.

But the sound that had just cursed Ginger's ears didn't sound anything like a coherent song. Ginger didn't know all that much about music herself, but she knew it when she heard it. And if that was what this was meant to be, the creature was EXTREMELY off key.

"Have you, uh...considered lessons?"

The monster seemed to shrink back in shame, and the next thing Ginger knew, she had retreated into the water along the path.

"Hey, wait, wait a minute!"

But it was too late. She was already gone. And she'd left 15G in her wake.

_Oh, well..._

Ginger did what she always did; accept the blessing and store it away where it belonged. She found another plaque on the wall and read it.

"**The northern room hides a great treasure.**"

_Maybe later..._

She continued due east, and even more ancient writing came into view.

"**This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's SOUL. When a  
monster dies, its SOUL disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take  
the SOUL of a living monster.**"

"**There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species of monster called a "Boss  
Monster." A Boss Monster's SOUL is strong enough to persist after death...If only for  
a few moments. A human could absorb this SOUL. But this has never happened. And  
now it never will.**"

_Wait a minute..._

Hadn't she seen...Toriel's SOUL linger on for a few moments in the deleted timeline where she'd mistakenly killed her? The white, inverted heart had struggled to maintain its form for a few moments after the monster degraded into dust, and then she'd watched it shatter into a million pieces.

...Was Toriel a Boss Monster?

That got her thinking...What happened to a monster's consciousness upon their SOULs disappearing? Did the monster just stop existing? Was consciousness and being separate from the SOUL? But what about the scrooms wandering around the Spirit Woods with their unfinished business? Were they not the disembodied SOULs of owls? Or were SOULs and SPIRITs different entities in and of themselves? Napstablook was essentially a ghost. Did ghosts have SOULs? WERE they SOULs themselves? She had so many questions, it was all so confusing. Everything down here was confusing in one way or another, and the one explanation behind everything seemed to be magic.

And magic was the most perplexing concept of them all. She had yet to see something that magic WASN'T capable of.

She passed through another room; there was a mysterious statue sitting against the wall, its legs crossed and its head pointing down. There was a faint beam of light shining down on it, and when Ginger looked up, she saw a water dripping down onto it from the damp earth above, almost like rain. It was a depressing image, to say the least, yet she wondered about it; there were odd mechanisms at its feet that seemed just out of reach of the rain.

The next room had a sign, and on the opposite end of it was a box of umbrellas.

"**Please take one.**" the sign read.

So she did, just in case she was rained on. If there could be snow underground, as she'd seen just before her fight with Papyrus, there could be rain.

The umbrella she'd picked out was a soft shade of indigo, and it complemented her cloak quite well.

The human proceeded, opening the portable rain shelter. Sure enough, the hallway stretching on ahead was experiencing a shower, and puddles pooled on the dirt floor.

"Yo! I-it's you again!"

Ginger instantly recognized the voice; that same lizard boy that she had seen so many times came out from a notch in the wall to greet her.

"Ghee, whiz, who are you?" she teased. "I've never seen you around here before."

"Oh, come on. You're doing that on purpose!"

"Good catch."

She looked behind her. The image of that statue still filled her mind.

"...Say. You've been living here in the Underground for a long time, haven't you?"

"I've been here my whole life!"

"Well, then...You might know a thing or two about that statue back a ways?"

"Oh! I know what you're talkin' about! Come on, let's go see it!"

He ran back down the path she'd came, fortunate enough not to slip and fall like he always seemed to do when he tried to start up a run, and she went after him. Soon enough, they were back at the lonely-looking statue that sat against the center of the wall.

"It's been here since before I was born," the monster explained. "I dunno what it's supposed to be for, though. Maybe it's just a decoration..."

His voice trailed off, and the human saw his smile fade.

"...It looks kinda sad, doesn't it?" he remarked. "Maybe...that's why someone made it that way...Because they were sad. You think?"

"Maybe..."

For a few moments, there was silence between the two children. Nothing was heard except for the pitter-patter of the rain on the worn stone. The human looked at her younger monster companion after some time; he looked just about as low in spirits as the statue they both stood before.

"...You know," Ginger finally said. "I know what might make it feel better."

"What?" he asked, looking up at her.

She answered his question by taking the umbrella she carried and putting it in the statue's folded hands. The rain slid down the hood that hovered above the figure, and it dripped everywhere except onto the statue, like it had been doing for Glaux-knows how long.

"Well," the boy noted. "Now he's at least gonna be dry."

Ginger was about to respond, but before she could open her mouth, the odd mechanisms at the statue's crossed feet began to whirr, and the human could see them moving, very slightly, as they tried to rework themselves out. What were they trying to do?

Her question was immediately answered.

From inside the statue, a gentle tune began to play out, and it filled the rainy corridors with a sense of content calm.

A music box.

"Wow..." the monster whispered, the smile returning to his face. He looked up at the human. "...You did that!"

"What? Me? No..."

"Come on. Give yourself a pat on the back...I'd do it myself for ya, but I ain't got no arms."

"...And that...doesn't bother you?"

"N'aw. I get by just like everyone else. And my tail's not completely useless, you know. I'm not gonna let somethin' like that drag me down! I've got my whole life left to live!"

"Ah..."

She stood there for a few more moments, taking in the melody. She was never much one for music, but this was really a beautiful song, so gentle and soft, almost like a mother owl singing out a lullaby for her chicks...

It made her remember her own days as a hatchling.

She remembered the long talks she used to have with her parents during meal time, and how they taught her all different things about the world.

She remembered her First Meat on Bones Ceremony; her First Pellet Ceremony had been soon to follow.

She remembered the day her brother hatched from his egg; it was on that day that she vowed to put aside all things childish so she could dedicate herself to her family...

Things had only gone downhill from there for her.

Felix was a nutcase from day 1. He nearly drove her to insanity, and it wasn't until she'd lashed out at her own father in a fit of anger that she decided she was too dangerous to have around the hollow; she loved her parents dearly, and the last thing she wanted was to harm them. So the following day, while everyone was asleep, she'd run away.

And she remembered how free and wonderful she felt flying over the forests, into the human city and out over the ocean, ready and rearing to explore...

If it hadn't been for the Pure Ones coming to rescue her in the sea storm, she wouldn't be here.

She remembered when she first found herself in the Beaks; from there, things finally started looking up, and she was glad to call herself one of them.

She remembered her first field mission; her infiltration of the Great Tree had not only been a success, but it also saved nearly the entire Pure One army from certain doom.

And she remembered her friends.

Uklah, the bright strategist and nature enthusiast who never failed to make an owl smile, even if just on the inside.

Phillip, the soft-spoken, yet knowing and talented tracker who would never turn a deaf earslit to one's problems.

Vaygar, the sociable navigator that always seemed to have a good piece of advice or relatable story for any situation.

Kludd, the boldfaced warrior-in-training that always strived to give his all. The crude wetpoop joker who was easy to amuse and eager to share his laughs. Her well-deserving second-in-command. Her finest soldier. Her best friend...

Her swain. She wondered what the future might hold for them.

And then Ginger found herself holding back tears; if she couldn't regain her feathered form, she might never find out.

"Yo...you okay?"

Her scaly companion's voice snapped her out of her forlorn daze, and she turned to face him, putting on a more confident face.

"Me? Fine, fine. Just thinking about some things...This music really makes you think about the past a lot, doesn't it?"

"...Hm...yeah. It does, kinda."

"Well...I guess I better head on my way."

"Mind if I...you know...tag along with you? We might need anther umbrella, and...well, it's kinda hard to carry one in your mouth, if you know what I mean."

"Say no more."

She was the first to head back to the umbrella room and take out another one. This time, the umbrella she pulled out was a dull shade of pink; not exactly a complement to her dark cloak, but she wasn't bothered by the fact. The young monster stood right by her side under their shelter to keep himself dry, the music box still echoing through the darkness. He looked up at his friend.

"I never got your name, you know?" he realized. "What is it?"

"...It's Ginger. Ginger Wingren. Yours?"

"Man...I wish I had a cool name like that; mine's lame."

"Well, what is it?"

"...My name's Kidd. With two 'd's, in case you didn't know; people get the spelling confused a lot...Most monsters aren't very good at naming things, I don't think. Not even our king. In fact, I hear he's the worst out of all of us."

"So I've read."

"Your name's cool...Like Undyne. That's a cool name, too, ain't it? Cool like her!"

Ginger inhaled through clenched teeth, emitting somewhat of a hissing noise. She hoped the monster on question was anywhere near.

"...Can I ask you something?"

"What's up?"

"Why do you think Undyne's so cool?"

"How is she NOT cool? She beats up bad guys and NEVER loses! If I were a human, I'd probably wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna come and beat me up!"

She gulped.

"But we ain't got nothing to worry about!"

_I wish that were the case._

He really didn't know just what he was talking to.

The path turned south, and they continued. Kidd saw an Echo Flower growing up out of the ground on a separate piece of land, and he stopped to look at it. Noticing that he wasn't following her anymore, Ginger went back to where he was standing to keep the umbrella over him.

"Lookin' at the Echo Flower?"

"Yeah. One time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king came to school-we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr'-to donate some of his own flowers, and he ended up teaching the class about responsibility and stuff."

"You've seen him in person?"

"Sure have."

"Mind telling me what he looks like? I've never seen him before."

"Man...You must not have gotten out much back in the capital. Well, he's SUPER big, for one; bigger and taller than either of my parents, that's for sure. Actually, just about everything about him is big; big ears, big old horns, big feet, big, fuzzy beard...I wish I could be as big as him when I grow up. That'd be AWESOME."

"What was he like?"

"He was awful nice; always smiling, always greeting everyone; it's too bad he doesn't have kids of his own...I wonder why?"

"Me, too."

"So, anyway, when he came to school that day, that got me thinking...What'd it be like if UNDYNE showed up at the school? Aw, man, that'd probably be SO COOL! She could beat up ALL THE TEACHERS!"

"Eesh...Sounds a little rough, huh?"

"Eh..."

He began to reconsider his thoughts as the two began to walk again.

"...Maybe you're right; she probably wouldn't beat up the teachers. She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person! Sure, the teachers are lame, but they don't do nothin' bad."

"I hope she wouldn't."

"Yeah...She could beat up all the bullies instead! That'll teach 'em for makin' fun of my arms..."

"You mean the, uh...lack thereof?"

"Exactly. It don't bother me much anymore, but it'll still show 'em good."

The rain stopped, and the path turned east again. Ginger exited the hallway to find the path going down an extremely large, flat, open field. Far out in the distance, there was what looked like an enormous castle, far more grand and elaborately-constructed than the Pure Ones' rock spire of a base.

"...Is that where King Asgore lives?"

"You'd know. That's where you came from, ain't it?"

"Oh, oh, yeah! O-of course! I'm-I'm just messin' with you again!"

Oh, boy; she'd have to be more careful. He'd probably go off running to find his apparent idol if he found out she was really a human.

"Almost had me there, for a sec...It looks a lot smaller from a distance, don't it?"

"It sure does."

The two friends stood there for a few moments, staring out at New Home. That was where Ginger was headed. That was where she would meet King Asgore Dreemurr. As for what he would say or do when he saw her coming...Only time would tell.

They continued, and they entered through the tunnel; it was raining there along a small segment of path there, too, and there was another round umbrella basket. She folded it and put it back in with the others.

The children found themselves faced with an obstacle; the ledge separating off the rest of the pathway was too high to step over, and too steep to climb.

"Yo...I got an idea. Climb up on my shoulders; I'll give you a boost!"

"You sure?"

"I'm stronger than I look! You won't hurt me, I promise!

The young monster did turn out to have shoulders, despite not having any arms. Reluctantly, Ginger put one foot on his left shoulder, then pushed off and steadied herself by putting her other one on his right. He wavered some with her weight, but he kept himself from giving in. Finally, she hoisted herself up onto the ledge.

"I see you're wearin' that cloak you got back in Snowdin. You must really like it."

"Oh, you bet I do," she confirmed, peering over the edge to face him.

"Did somethin' happen to the hood? The edges look kinda torn."

She ran her hand over the rim; it did indeed feel like the fabric had taken a beating. She vividly remembered what had made them that way; the tips of the spears Undyne was throwing at her while she was running along the bridge had grazed the hood's edge. The superficial damage her cloak had recieved was a small price to pay for her life; if she hadn't stopped running right when she had, they would have run right through her skull.

"Here, let me pull you up, now."

She reached her arm out for him to take...but then she realized.

There was nothing to pull him up by. He had no hand she could grab onto, and his tail was too short to reach from the ledge she was on.

"Yo, you go on ahead of me," Kidd reassured. "Don't worry about me. I'll just find another way around! Shouldn't be that hard, right?"

"...Well...Okay. I'll be seein' you."

"You too, Ging'! Can I call you that? Like, for short?"

"Be my guest; all my friends do."

She could reach the top of his head, and used the opportunity to give him a vigorous scratch; if there had been feathers on his head, they would have gotten all ruffled up, and the thought of such an image almost made Ginger laugh.

"Cool. Well, see ya later!"

He turned to leave again, but then once he'd taken his first few steps, he faced her again.

"You know," he said. "It's funny...You sort of remind me of her...No wonder you're so cool."

And he turned and ran again, disappearing out into the underground field...She could have sworn she saw him fall flat on his face again before shaking it off and getting right back onto his feet. She liked just how happy he always seemed to be; it was a good thing to have for someone his age.

The rain stopped, and the path darkened. There were more plaques on the walls for Ginger to read regarding the war.

"**The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and  
without mercy.**"

In between that plaque and the next, along the path, was another Save Point.

***Waterfall-Bridge**

***File Saved**

After she waved her hand through it, her ears just barely picked up a light dinging noise. She listened carefully; it turned out to be the music box, still resonating across the field and through the earthen halls from the feet of that lonely statue she'd helped.

And hopefully, it wouldn't stop. She'd never cared much for music; she thought there were more important things to worry about. But never in her life had she heard a tune that made her feel quite this way.

And that was when she realized something. For the first time ever...

She...had a favorite song.

Ginger's vision seemed to cloud, and despite the rain having stopped from where she was at, it felt like the droplets were still running down her face...Wait a minute.

_Am I..._

"N-no," she denied aloud, but she knew it was all too true, especially with how choked up she realized her voice sounded. "I-I'm not crying..."

She sniffled, then instinctively pulled the bandanna she'd gotten at the Snowdin Shop out to wipe away her tears, yet still smiling all the while. She took a look at the thin cloth; it looked like someone had drawn on it, maybe to make it look cooler, but the markings had faded with the rivers of time. After taking a deep breath, the human finally regained her composure, put the bandanna back where it was and looked to see what the next plaque had to say.

"Okay, let's see here..." she muttered, a brave attempt at her normal tone.

"**In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful,  
and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless monsters  
were turned to dust.**"

That must be what happened to all monsters when they died. She, of course, had seen this first hand.

Another tear threatened to fall out of her eye, and she blinked rapidly to try and shoo it back to where it belonged; locked away on the other side of the steel dams behind her eyes. That was where they all belonged.

But now some had escaped out into the open where they could be seen. She hoped she was really as alone as she thought she was. That last thing she wanted was for anyone to have seen her brief minute of emotion.

Odds were, though, that nobody had, seeing as nobody had come to take her by surprise when she was most vulnerable.

Just in case, however, she rose her fists, showing off her Tough Glove, and flung part of her cloak to the side in a confident mannerism, sporting a confident smirk all the while.

"Try and mess with me now," she whispered to an imaginary enemy. "Yeah, you'll be sorry. I have **DETERMINATION**."

Little did she know, she was indeed being watched.

The tiny figure sat in the shadows, eyes fixed on the human. Jab, jab, kick, uppercut. Was this her way of reassuring herself? Fighting her own shadow? He'd say she looked stupid, but really, he knew she wasn't one to mess around in a serious situation.

He'd experienced that first hand, so he should know.

She was a very odd human; the first time he saw her since she woke up from that nap, she was telling that smiling trash bag that she'd never eaten ice cream before...What kind of person her age had never eaten ice cream before? It was ludicrous. Oh, well...It'd have made her seem even more backasswards if she didn't like the rich, chocolatey goodness she'd recieved.

She always did love chocolate, after all.

She was an odd candidate for his plan, but as long as everything went accordingly, he wasn't going to complain. Even if it did mean he was stuck wandering around without anything to do until everything was said and done.

"Enjoy yourself while you still have your powers," he muttered from afar. "...You IDIOT."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Over here! I think I found something!"

The Burrowing Owl heard his student's call, and he rushed over to see what he'd discovered.

It was a small cave opening, right at the base of the mountain, concealed by the trees. How could they have missed that during their first round?

"And look!"

Phillip picked something up off the ground and showed it off; it was a white, poofy down feather from a Barn Owl's breast, and it looked like it had recently come loose.

Ginger. It had to be. What were the odds it wasn't? Except for the Pure Ones already here, there weren't that many Tytos around these woods compared to Horned Owls and Saw-Whets. And Ginger was supposedly the only owl who had even been here as of late anyways; the odds of it belonging to a different Barn Owl were close to nothing.

"Good find, boy. Let's see just what prompted her to head inside."

The entered into the small cavern. Phillip was quick to take note of just how many vines were growing around the place, lacing the walls and trimming along the cave floor. He slowed down a bit to scan for anything suspicious, but he found nothing that stuck out in particular; no blood spatter anywhere, no abundance of torn or plucked feathers, no remains, no animal tracks visible, bloody or impressed within the earth.

"DEAR LORD 'OOLE IN THE MIDDLE O' 'OOLEMERE!"

Tarn's exclamation made the Sooty Owl jump, and he ran to his teacher to see what he was raving about, perching on the same vine he was leaning forward on.

"What's-GUAUGH!"

He stumbled backwards off the vine and fell flat on his back. Phillip had certainly not expected to see a hole as deep as a redwood tree was tall and three times one's width staring him right in the face, that was for sure.

"Did...she go down there, do you suppose?"

"I'm as sure o' that as I am o' Theo makin' the first ba'leclaws, boy."

"Well, we'd better go down there and start looking, wouldn't you say?" Phillip suggested, readying a takeoff.

"Now, 'old on a moment there, young'un," Tarn interrupted by stretching his wing out to keep the Sooty from descending. "I can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but there's somethin' 'bout this hole in the ground givin' me the creelies. Can't say I trust it."

"...Oh, c-come on. There aren't really any monsters down there, are there? Isn't that all just some folktale?"

"Phillip, son, there's still many an owl back in the Kingdoms that think the Guardians of Ga'Hoole are the stuff o' myths, and you and I both know that ain't true. I'm not sayin' yes, but I'm not sayin' no, eithah. And the last thing I want is to be stuck down there with a bunch of flesh-hungry, bloodthirsty monsters."

"Do you think they're really savage beasts?"

"I...well, I'm not giving a definitive answer on that, eithah. But like I said, I'd rathah not take my chances."

"Mind if I at least look see if I can see the bottom from here? See what might really be down there?"

"I'll allow that."

So Phillip spread his wings and flew over the giant opening in the earth. A blurry patch of gold could be seen at the very bottom.

He squinted for a clearer picture. Were those flowers?

The blurring seemed to fade. Yes. They were most definitely flowers.

He saw something else come into view and situate itself by the flowerbed; a living creature of some sort? As long as it wasn't human, it might actually be of some help. He tried to get a better look, but the image seemed to blur again, no matter how hard he squinted.

"Um...Tarn. Care to take a gander at this?"

Intrigued, the Burrowing Owl flew about the hole, seeing the blurry sight for himself.

"You know what, Phillip? I say we go just a tad furthah down, just so we can see this better."

The two owls spiraled down the hole, and by the time they'd reached the one-third mark, the image had cleared again. Phillip blinked, not completely convinced that what he was looking down at was real.

It looked like a purple-cloaked, humanoid creature with the head of a goat, and it was kneeling down over the bed of golden flowers.

"...Someone has to take care of these flowers," he heard it say.

He looked at his instructor.

"Are you...seeing what I'm seeing?"

Tarn gave a nod to confirm this, looking just as shocked as the Sooty Owl.

"You don't suppose that could be..."

"Oh, I do, boy. I do, indeed."

Phillip looked down at what they both agreed was almost definitely a monster. She...didn't look bloodthirsty.

"...You don't think she could help us out, do you, Tarn, sir?"

"Well, my good young owl," the elder tracker replied. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

* * *

**A/N: I really like how this is coming along. I felt like we needed a nice break from the action, and this chapter serves that purpose pretty well. I felt like this was a bit of a filler chapter, but hey! At least the story's progressing the way it should! Let me know what you guys think!**

**I think the name of the chapter sums up the mood pretty well, as well as hint at what's about to come. After all, you know what they say. After the calm...**


	13. Chapter 11: The Storm

"Ha-LOOOOOOOO!" Tarn screeched in that loud, Burrowing Owl voice of his at the strange creature below. "You down there! Identify yourself!"

The being immediately turned its head up upon the call.

"Yes!? What!? Someone there!?" she responded. "Who is it!?"

Tarn looked to his student for him to say something.

"M-me?"

He nodded, and Phillip agreed, albeit very nervous about the situation.

"Um...W-we happened upon this mountain, and we've heard the legends! A-are you a monster?"

"Yes...Yes, I am. But I won't hurt you! I promise! What of you? I cannot very well see you through the Barrier, but it looks like two small figures hovering just above it like birds. Is that, by any chance, you?"

"What do we say!?" Phillip whispered to the elder tracker. He gave another nod of confirmation, then took his turn to speak.

"It is. We're looking for a friend of ours. Can we trust you?"

"You can!"

"Should we?" Phillip questioned yet again.

"I don't see why not; this monster doesn't exactly seem like a mangy rabid murderer, does she, now?"

"...No, I suppose not."

"Very well, then!" Tarn continued to the monster below. "'Ave you seen an owl pass down through this hole? A Barn Owl, to be exact?"

"Are those the ones with the big, white heart-shaped faces?"

"That's the one! Seen any? Particularly one with a tawny pelt and big, clever-looking, eyes? Sky blue, might I add?"

A tawny pelt and witty, bright blue eyes. Except for the owl part, the description sounded all too familiar.

"No. Not an owl. But...Of late, a human of such a description has come down here, in case that gives you any hints about anything!"

_A human...? With a tawny pelt? And eyes like hers? I thought there weren't any around here for miles on end...It's almost as if..._

_No...No, that's impossible, Tarn..._

"But no owl?"

"No owl; I am sorry I cannot offer any more useful information."

"...This human you speak of. What were they like? I'm curious?"

"Oh, she was a very bright young SOUL. Of independent nature; a bit on the pugnacious side, but good-natured through and through. She even knows how to escape a battle using nothing more than her words and her quick feet! She impressed me quite so...but she's not around anymore. She had to leave the Ruins you fly over now. The other side of the cave is where she will be able to escape. I do hope she's alright; the Underground is full of danger. But I have some sort of odd faith that she is still alive and well."

Tarn processed her description of the mysterious human for a moment; she sounded very much like Ginger; quick-minded, eager to face the battlefield, yet just and good deep within. It was no wonder she and Kludd were such a good match.

"But it's a human," Phillip reminded, reading the look on the Burrowing Owl's face. "It can't be."

Tarn gave the Sooty a peculiar look; he wasn't quite convinced yet, so he decided to dig a little deeper.

"Ma'am!" he continued, flying just a bit lower. "You said something about a Barrier! Is that the cause of the periodic blurs we're seein' up 'ere?"

"Oh, yes; it's just about at the halfway mark! I do not recommend you descend any lower than you are now! Anything can pass into the Barrier from the outside, but nothing can come out! Only those with powerful enough SOULs can cross it from the inside! You'll likely get stuck down here!"

"This Barrier...What is it made of?"

"It is entirely composed of magic, formed by the seven human mages that trapped us down here in the first place many centuries ago. The only thing that can destroy it is a power equivalent to seven human SOULs..."

Her voice seemed to trail off.

"When something passes through the Barrier...What 'appens to, say a human? Does the magic react with them in any way that might...change them?"

"Not that I know of."

"I don't know much about magic, except for a few things that stick out in the legends I've read. Legends an' 'istory books from my home turf so say that there once roamed haggish creatures that plagued the land with their dark magic; natchmagen, we call it! And said natchmager could transform one being into another! This was one of the Hagsfiends' most feared attributes! Can yours do this!?"

"Transform things? I...believe it can to a certain extent, but I have yet to see this happen for myself. I have heard nothing of the Barrier being capable of such things...But yet again, the properties it withholds are shrouded in mystery; they have been ever since it's formation."

So there was a possibility.

"...Pray tell," Tarn continued. "This human that came down here...What was her name?"

"Oh, she had an interesting name, but very fitting for someone like her. Ginger, it was."

The two owls looked at each other, not sure what to believe. This new possibility that Tarn had come up with had completely taken off.

"...We'll be on our way now, madam."

"Um...What's your name?" Phillip called down. The blur faded again, and he could see her face more clearly once more; her eyes were full of worry and intrigue; not at all the eyes of a savage beast that he and Tarn had originally fathomed.

"My name is Toriel; I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen down, and it is a good thing I do; a terrible plant-like creature was trying to do her in when I stumbled upon the scene and acted in her defense."

"That is all. Good day to you."

Tarn lifted himself up out of the hole, and the young Sooty Owl followed suit.

"...Did we hear all of that correctly, Tarn, sir?"

"No doubt. It doesn't have to be told to me twice. From what I'm theorizing, Ginger's been put under some sort of spell by that cursed Barrier. Either that Toriel thing down there's oblivious to the effects it had on her or she's not fessin' up."

"Which of the two do you believe more?"

He sighed before giving his protégé an answer.

"...I'm going to have to say I'm leanin' more towards the former. She seemed clear and willing to give answers, wouldn't you say? She even warned us about the trap the Barrier forms, so that's a plus. Even with the whole monster thing, I don't see any reason yet not to trust her."

"Ginger's been placed under a spell. As in it...made her a human?"

"That goat didn't mention anything about her bein' panicky; that's a tad odd, if you ask me. I'd certainly be in a mess of a mental state if I found arms in place of my wings and ugly flats as my feet instead of talons."

He flexed the claws on his foot, displaying the short, yet sharp claws on his sandy-scaled feet. They weren't quite as dark and hooked as those of a Barn Owl, and his talons not as thick and powerful, but they could still pack a nasty blow.

"There's not the possibility that it's a coincidence, is it?"

"Phillip...What do YOU think the odds are? Especially considering that there's magic involved? Maybe natchmagen?"

"...Close to zero."

"Come on, boy," he finished, picking his flight up even more as they exited the hole and flew out of the cavern. "This is something the High Tyto needs to know about and fast."

The two owls emerged and began a straight path to the arrangement in the treetops the eagles and Pure Ones had made use of. All Phillip hoped that if his owl-turned-human instructor was indeed undergoing the terrible spell AND a perilous trek, she would know how to hold her own.

_Glauxspeed, Ginger,_ he wished he could say to her. _Glauxspeed..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

The path ahead was just wooden bridge, and there was more winding around beneath. Ginger wondered if her path and the one below connected at some point.

_Guess I'll find out at some point..._ she said to herself.

So she began trekking ahead; Kidd might have some trouble finding a way around this bridge path, seeing that the sides of it were just open air. She hoped he could make his way around it somehow, wherever the detour might be...She wished she knew where one was; Ginger was beginning to feel uneasy again...Was it the height of the bridge? Heights normally didn't bother her. In fact, she loved looking down at the ground from high above to see things one couldn't from on the surface. Maybe it had something to do with her imminent lack of wings to keep her up in the case the bridge somehow collapsed. But the wood it was made out of seemed pretty sturdy, so it couldn't be anything related to acrophobia. Then why did she suddenly feel so-

The human's train of thought was cut off by the sound of magic, and her eyes were pulled down to something that had formulated from thin air right in front of her.

It was a small, glowing blue flat...platform of some sort, she guessed, that had magically appeared there. She heard another one form behind her, and then yet a third to her right...What in the name of Glaux was...

Her eyes widened...She recognized that haunting blue glow.

Several more formed around her, and then, in a split second, spears came up out of them; if she'd been standing on one of them she would have been a human kabob.

And then came the all-too familiar noise of metal boots clanging against the hard wood beneath her.

Ginger didn't even have to see Undyne to know that she was right down there on the lower bridge. And once she comprehended what was happening, she _bolted._

She ran right up the curving bridge, the captain sending another wave of spear tiles at her to try and skewer her from beneath. Ginger refused to let her gruesome intentions come into full play; as quickly as her feet threatened to carry her, Ginger had to keep herself from going too fast, or else she would find herself running right onto one of the spear tiles right when it decided to launch upward. The mere brief glimmering image she pictured of her human self impaled and bloodied on the spear protruding from the wooden path was enough to make her mind even sharper and quicker to outpace the tiles as they formed.

_Not gonna let that happen!_

The bridge divided into several different branches ahead, and looking up the path, she found the straight one leading to a dead end, so she skidded against the sharp turn and made her way south. Another dead end came into view; she turned left, then right again, just barely dodging one of the spears coming up out of the corner. Another set came up along the path directly ahead of her, and she pushed off toward the east. One of the branches in the path turned south again, and Ginger opted to keep heading that way until she'd lost her.

But it didn't look like the fearsome Undyne was going to be giving up herself anytime soon.

The human saw that the tiles were forming quicker, and the spears were shooting up in less time. The captain was upping her game, so she would have to up her speed.

Ginger saw a break in the path ahead; the other part of the bridge was connected just at the corner, and she was almost afraid she would fall into the darkness if she wasn't careful with her next turn. Another tile formed right where she had to put her foot down to clear the jump. She HAD to get there before the spear spring up.

She pushed off the break and sent herself onto the other side just as the tip shot up, the knife-like edge of the spear grazing the sole of her shoe. The human followed the path as it continued west, zigzagging around the ever quickening spears shooting up at her. How much quicker could they possibly get!? And when was this crazy monster going to give up the chase already!?

"Is this always how you attack!?" Ginger found herself yelling in her own frustration and panic, not realizing she was saying it and not just thinking it. "Hiding in the shadows and tossing up your fancy magic weapons!? Why don't you come out and face me!? Or are you just some COWARD HIDING BEHIND A HELMET!?"

For a moment, the spears seemed to stop, and not realizing what had just been said, she took the opportunity to follow the bridge south, then east again, making three fourths of a circle before finding a particularly large bridge patch; if this broad, spread out ground was grass and dirt instead of wooden logs, it would technically classify as an island. Ginger slowed as she approached the point at which the bridge narrowed again; the darkness made it hard to see where it ended, so she squinted...

And immediately came to a screeching halt.

If she had taken one step further, she would have fallen off of the bridge and into the inky blackness. This was a dead end, so she turned back to find another way across.

And when she did, her heart felt as though it had turned to stone.

There, standing no less than ten yards away from her, was Undyne. Her giant armored form was completely blocking off the rest of the bridge. From inside the monster's helmet, Ginger caught a glimpse of her right eye; it glowed a piercing yellow in the darkness, and its pupil was slit like a cat's. It shone with an untamed hatred that was more intense than anything of the sort the human had ever seen.

_Wait...Did I say those things about her being a coward...out loud?!_

If she had, however, she wasn't about to let herself go down without a fight. Ginger regained her composure and flashed her evil eye at the monster.

"So...you took my advice," she taunted, managing an eerie calm in her tone, and she proceeded to fling her hood off her head, knowing that Undyne already well knew who she was. "...What's hiding under YOUR mask?"

The monster didn't answer.

"...Pray tell, captain," the young human continued, trying her best to hide the shakiness of her voice. "What exactly DID happen the last time a human fell down here?"

Her catlike eye shone even brighter, the passionate anger resonating off of it growing ever stronger, and this time, the monster cast down two of her blue-glowing spears from above. They went through the bridge wood, but failed to harm the human.

"...You missed," Ginger remarked, not in a mocking fashion, but it true curiousity...What was the point of-

And that was when she felt the bridge begin to waver. The monster had cut off the dead end she was on from the rest of the bridge. It was only holding on by a few splinters.

It was going to fall, and it was going to take Ginger with it.

"...Too intimidated to fight he, huh?"

One more spear flew down, and it finally separated the wood. Ginger grasped the edge of the bridge piece as it began to fall, hoping to use it as a shield somehow upon the impact with the ground.

"If this is the way you want to do it, I'll bet you I'll be back!"

As she fell into the depths of the unknown, she began to reflect on all of the things she had said to the creature.

And for a fleeting moment, she hoped that the crash landing would kill her.

She had essentially dug her own grave by saying what she had to the six-and-a-half foot beast that was the Captain of the Royal Guard.

And she knew now that at some point, Undyne was going to throw her into it and bury her casket under her barrage of spears.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_...What was this?_

_She had fallen down. She was back in the Ruins...but how? And what had changed about it? Something had; something was definitely different from before, and it was something big, but somehow, she couldn't quite put her finger on it..._

_Was this a dream?...a vision, even, perhaps? She felt so different; so light. Had she died? Was this what always happened when one Loaded?_

_"It sounds like it came from over here..."_

_Who was that? She'd never heard that voice in her life, but...she felt like she should trust it? She rose her weary head and looked up; the silhouette that stood not far from her was a mottled white and green blur, but whoever it was, it didn't look much bigger than her. In fact, it didn't SOUND much older than her._

_"Oh!" the being exclaimed. "You've fallen down, haven't you...? Are you okay?"_

_"I...don't know..."_

_Something wasn't right. __She hurt so much...But wasn't she already dead? How could she still be in so much pain? What was going on...?_

_"Here, get up..."_

_Whoever it was lifted her onto her feet and began to lead her...somewhere, keeping her propped up in his soft arms; it felt like he was just about her size._

_"...What's your name?"_

_"...Chara."_

_Wait...But this wasn't right...That wasn't even her voice coming out of her mouth, was it? It sounded younger than she remembered; weaker. Who was this Chara she was seeing through the eyes of?_

_"Chara, huh?...That's a nice name..."_

_All of a sudden, everything began to fade to white._

_"My name is..."_

_But he was gone before he could finish._

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...What...What was..."

Ginger's head felt like it'd just been assaulted by a score of rocks. If she tried to lift it, she might vomit, it was so bad...couldn't she just lie here for a while longer...?

Finally, the pain began to dissipate, and she finally opened her weary eyes; all she could see was yellow.

Just like when she first fell into the Ruins.

She regained the strength to sit up; she found herself sitting in a small patch of flowers, not unlike the one that had broken her fall when she had been swallowed by the Barrier and turned human. It was strange seeing the flowers in a place like this; they didn't look like they belonged here in Waterfall.

She had a weird dream, she knew she had. Why couldn't she remember it? She'd JUST woken up from it, hadn't she? Why had she so suddenly forgotten it?

Ginger finally stood up, still unsteady from her light head...Where exactly was she? Wherever she was, she knew she had to get back to familiar territory before anything else crazy happened. The path she was on lead east, and it lead through cool, shallow water that barely even came up to her shins, and it flowed gently.

As she began to walk, she saw a giant pile of junk along the path. Upon taking a better look at it, it turned out to consist mostly of torn cloth, old boxes, broken human furniture and all sorts of other old, unwanted, or worn objects. Rubbish. Trash...

...Was this the Garbage Dump that Papyrus had spoke of?

She'd have to come back to this place, but before she could do that, she had to find a passage back to where she came from. There had to be a proper exit opening leading in and out if this dump somewhere. She hoped she could find a path leading up to such a place before Undyne decided to come here looking for her.

Ginger saw another Save Point glimmering in the darkness. She hastily brushed her hand through it; now she would REALLY have to Save as much as she could.

***Waterfall-Trash Zone**

***File Saved**

_Yep. This is the place._

The human looked the right of the Save Point, and she saw that the falls sloped. Ginger curiously peered down the cascade to see where it ended.

It didn't. It was just a black, seemingly bottomless pit, and the sight of it made her back away nervously. No way she would want to fall down there...Maybe Papyrus knew where it lead. She'd have to ask him the next time they met.

She went on; a few particular items stuck out of the north heading path. A big cooler that looked to be in good condition, a dated piece of human technology that was a little rusted, and...a DVD case? She recognized it from when Papyrus had shown off his own, but unlike the ones the skeleton had displayed, this was nothing Mettaton-related. Water had gotten into the case and destroyed the title of the DVD, but the picture was clear; it displayed a somewhat toony illustration of a young female human riding on a broomstick through the sky alongside a small flock of seagulls. The small black cat in her bag didn't appear very pleased with how high above the ground they were.

The DVD plastic hadn't been opened yet, but it looked like somebody had tried and failed to do so; the stubborn clear wrapping was covered in long indentations that looked like claws or nails had tried to tear through. But it had refused to break, so the monster-or maybe even human that had thrown it out-trying to open it must have given up.

A monster, probably; the creases looked like whatever had formed them was sharper than human fingernails; more like claws.

And not far from the abandoned DVD box was a familiar-looking training dummy.

"...Hey there," she said to it, staring into its black button eyes. The memory of Toriel's little training session in the Ruins came back to her. "How's it been?"

It didn't say anything.

"...Not much of a talker, are you?"

"..."

"Well...See ya later."

She turned to walk away, seeing an exit ahead. Maybe from there she could find a way back. The place could really do with some maps; maybe she could find someone with one to help point out which direction to head in.

"...Oh, we'll see about that, now, won't we?"

The phantom voice came from somewhere behind her. Ginger turned her head back around; there was nothing there but that dummy.

Which proceeded to turn its head and flash her a deathly glare!

"GACK!"

The dummy swam through the shallow water and re-emerged right in front of her, hovering in midair.

"Bet you're askin' yourself a lot o' questions, huh!?" he snapped at her. "I'm a ghost. And I live inside this dummy. My cousin used to live inside a dummy too."

"U-until...?"

"Until YOU came along!" he screamed. Ginger was so shocked by this sudden occurrence, she couldn't even grasp what was going on at the moment. All she knew was that a possessed training dummy was yelling at her, and he didn't seem very pleased.

"When you talked to him, he thought he was in for a nice chat...But the things you SAID...! They were horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! You spooked my cousin right out of his dummy! How'd you like it if someone scared _your_ SOUL right out of _YOUR_ body!?"

"I wouldn't-"

"Well, TOO BAD! YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHAT IT'S LIKE!"

The deranged punching bad let out an array of swirling, tangled, almost cotton ball-shaped bullets at her from a lineup of befittingly dummy-shaped launchers, and she dodged them in the nick of time.

"Come on, man, I-I didn't know about your cousin!" she tried to reason with it. "I thought it was just some regular old dummy sitting around!"

"Well YOU THOUGHT WRONG! Now get a load of THIS!"

Now two rays of cotton bullets came at her, one from in front and one from behind. When she dodged the back attack, they hit the one summoning them instead.

"OW! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMIN' THOSE ATTACKS, YOU DUMMIES!"

"You okay? Shouldn't you be more caref-"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR ADVICE! I NEED YOUR SOUL!"

He continued to unveil his plan as he sent out more arrays of cotton balls, and smaller, dummy shaped missile firers appeared to launch them from different sides of her.

"I'll teach you for treatin' my cousin like a piece o' trash, you piece o' trash! I'll take your SOUL and use it to cross the Barrier myself! And then I'll sit in the window of a fancy store, and everything I ever wanted will FINALLY BE **MINE!**"

"That's your plan to avenge your cousin?" Ginger questioned.

"Huh...?"

The bullets ceased for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess that'll avenge my cousin! Er..." He glanced off to the side. "...What was his name again? Whatever. Whatever! WHATEVER! It doesn't matter as long as I make sure you PAY for what you did to him! And PAY YOU WILL!"

Ginger just barely noticed the surprise attack coming from behind in time, and she dove out of the way just in time for the giant series of cotton balls fired by the dummy gunners to miss her and assault the angry dummy instead.

"GYACK! YOU KNOW WHAT! THAT'S IT! YOU GUYS ARE FIRED! I'll get someone for this job that DOESN'T screw up! DUMMY BOTS! DO YOUR STUFF!"

The new launchers he summoned had a more mechanical appearance, and the bullets they fired weren't cotton balls.

They were ACTUAL MISSILES.

And they actively CHASED after the panicking human until they ran out of power and faded away.

"Hey, what is-Stop it! STOP IT, YOU STUPID DUMMY! **THIS IS BACWARDS!**"

Ginger felt a lot of things; confused, threatened, shocked. Everything was fine, and then Undyne came along, and NOW she was being attacked by some sentient punching bag.

She was beginning to get mad herself. It was supposed to be the other sprinking way around!

One of the rockets managed to strike her in the arm, and she held it, shocked by the sudden burst of pain, as she doubled over.

"Ha ha. Ha ha! HA HA! That'll teach ya! Care for some more, ya little rat!?"

The mad dummy actually backed away some when Ginger finally rose her head.

She looked even angrier than HIM.

"Oh, so you think this a contest, huh!?"

He looked at his barely visible reflection in the water, made the angriest glare he could muster, then looked up at the human with the same expression.

But hers was different. It was genuine rage.

And it was accompanied by a ferocious-sounding GROWL.

Ginger tightened her gloved fist, then sent the strongest punch she'd ever dealt right into the dummy's chest, and the worn creature fell apart...

And then promptly pulled itself back together.

"Futile. Futile! FUTILE!" it hollered. "You can't hurt me! I'm incorporeal!"

"Well, then don't mind if I beat you up even more!"

"COME AT ME! SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO, WEAK-SAUCE!"

"With **PLEASURE,**" she snarled.

And she sent her own series of attacks at the dummy. A hook across the cheek. An uppercut to the chin. Three quick, light, consecutive punches to the chest, and then finally a good strong kick right in the gut! She beamed maniacally when her last attack made the dummy fall apart again, but just like before, he pulled himself back into his original form. If she had used this move on a truly living enemy, she would have very likely made them spill their stomach contents out onto the floor.

"Punch all you want! It won't do ANYTHING!"

He sent another series of missiles at the human, all of which she managed to dodge; all it took was some clever circling. And they hit their maker yet again.

"OH, FORGET IT! DUMMY BOTS! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! I DON'T NEED YOU! Who needs friends when you have KNIVES!?"

And a knife he did indeed have, and he flung it right at the human, who promptly got out of the path of its trajectory. She looked back and watched it land somewhere in a box and disappear among the human garbage inside of it. She turned her attention back to the dummy.

"I'm...out of knives." he realized. "...Fine. Whatever! IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! I'll just keep you here and you'll be stuck fighting me until you give up and die or forever! Whichever comes first! That's the PERFECT REVENGE! MUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And then, all of a sudden, something began to fall onto the dummy. Ginger knew that her punches didn't exactly cause him pain, but it appeared as though the magic bullets conjured by the monsters-even those he made himself-did. The tear-shaped bullets fell down onto him and made him twitch.

"OW!...What the heck!? What is this!? ACID RAIN!? OH, FORGET IT! I'M OUTTA HERE! THIS ISN'T WORTH MY TIME!"

And the mad dummy finally floated away. And from above, Ginger saw just who made the bullets.

"Napstablook!" she exclaimed.

"...hey...why'd he leave..."

"Uh...You didn't do that on purpose?"

"...no...I just saw how much fun you two were having, and I...wanted to be a part of it...oh...oh, no...I ruined everything, didn't I...?"

"No, no, Napstablook, that wasn't...actually...Now that I look back on it, it WAS kinda fun beating that guy to a pulp."

"...oh...him...yeah...he's one of my cousins...did I hear him say something about me?"

"Wait, YOU'RE the cousin who lived in the dummy?"

"...yeah...but you didn't know I was there...I was just checking it out...I wondered what it might be like...living inside a dummy like my cousin...but then you came along, and...I decided it wasn't my thing...no offense; the stuff you said wasn't all that bad, anyway...and besides...you weren't really talking to me..."

"So, uh...No hard feelings about me beating up your cousin?"

"...No...you might find this hard to believe, but...he actually likes being beat up...you seemed like you were having a good time too..."

"Sorry you felt kinda left out."

"...no, it's fine...oh, no...I'm getting in your way again, aren't I...ohhhhhh..."

"Napstablook, it's okay. You're-"

But the ghost had already faded away. Ginger sighed; she was fond of the soft-spoken little ghost, she really was, but he was sort of odd...Then again, he seemed lonely. Maybe it was his solitude that made him the way he was.

The path ahead came up out of the water and lead out of the Trash Zone, and she followed it, finding another Save Point just ahead.

***Waterfall-Quiet Area**

***File Saved**

There was a sign off to her right up ahead, and Ginger read it.

"**North: Blook Acres  
East: Hotland  
?: Temmie Village  
**

Temmie Village? What was that...or more curiously...WHERE was that? South? West? Even the directions sign didn't seem to know. Maybe she could hand around there to kill some more time...and to further try and throw Undyne off her tail, if she could manage it. Papyrus didn't seem to be doing a very good job of stalling her...or was he? She seemed awfully set on her murderous goal, so she imagined that the skeleton could only sway her so much.

The path across from the sign lead further eastward; maybe she'd do some exploring and hope for the best, but she'd have to be careful not to head into Hotland straight away, however far east it was. The human caught sight of a box across from a notch in the path, and she took a look into the obstruction of the smooth dirt wall.

It wasn't just a cranny; it lead into another den. And from what she read on the sign over top of the open entryway, it looked like a shop of some sort. Ginger nodded and smiled to herself; once she was done navigating the halls, she decided it would be about time she got another chance to put the gold she'd accumulated to good use.

The plaques continued further down, and she went to continue reading the monsters' tragic story.

"**Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of  
their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can  
enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave.**"

Ginger had read from one of the previous plaques that her SOUL, being that of a human, was just about as powerful as the SOULs of every single monster in the Underground combined. That number was at LEAST a good one or two hundred so far, and seeing how many places there were under the mountain that she had yet to traverse, so comparatively speaking, her SOUL should be plenty strong enough, right?

"**There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a power equivalent to seven human  
SOULs attacks the Barrier...It will be destroyed.**"

The human passed through some more shallow water as she went to the next one.

"**But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could  
come here. We will remain trapped down here forever.**"

Ginger found herself following the path to a seemingly dead end, but upon catching sight of glowing blue grass jutting out in a neat line from the side of the flat dirt, she decided to see if it lead somewhere. Her foot kicked a mushroom in the middle of her walkway, and once it did...

The tiny fungus squeaked, and instantly, more of the blue grass lit up, revealing more path...In fact, it lead to another mushroom sitting in a bigger grassy patch. Was this a puzzle? Did it lead somewhere? Somewhere secret?

Ginger continued following the path, and two more mushroom patches revealed the way to go. Ginger was curious as to what the big secret was that the path had to be kept decently hidden from the regular passerby.

The sound of rustling grass filled her ears and disturbed the calm, and she developed a feeling of being watched.

"...Hello?" she said plainly, as not to sound alarmed. She casually crossed her arms as she continued down the mushroom path, double-checking to make sure she still had her Tough Glove on in case her suspicions were correct. She did, so she made a tight fist with it again.

"See, anybody see that?" she asked coolly, just in case there was indeed somebody watching. "That's what you're gonna get if you tangle with me, so don't try it."

It was strangely silent. There was no tranquil water flow, no chilly breeze, nothing. Just the sound of her own feet shifting through the grass.

"...Sans...? Is that you...?"

She approached one more mushroom as she quietly called out, and she gently tapped it with the tip of her foot. It made a squeaking sound like all the others did.

And right after the squeak, a loud, sudden voice screamed out from right behind her.

"**hOIIIIII!**"

* * *

**A/N: I'm looking forward to the next chapter. I finally get to write out the Temmies! :D**

**Thanks for checking in! See ya next time!**


	14. Chapter 12: Odd Friends in Nigh Places

"What in the-!?"

What was this tiny thing? A dog? A cat? A combination of the two? Was she seeing TWO sets of ears!?

"What-Who ARE you!?"

"**i'm tEMMIE!**" the creature squealed, its cutesy, squeaky voice full of wonder and excitement. "**i herdz der was humans heer so i came to pet da humans and awwAwa yur so cUTE fhsdhjfdsfjsddshjfsd can i pET U!?**"

Ginger wasn't quite sure what to make of this...At least this..."Temmie" thing didn't seem to pose any sort of threat.

"You? Pet me? I think you've got this a little mixed up..."

"**hNNNNNNNN! jUST lemme see ur fayce!**" the tiny creature exclaimed. There was hint of impatience in its voice, but it was still beaming.

"Uh, well...okay, then...?"

She complied, bending down to the Temmie's eye level, and the creature put its tiny white paws on her face and nuzzled her nose with its own. Once it had finished, it smiled a bigger smile than any Ginger had ever seen, and she could swear she saw tears of joy forming in the corners of its bright eyes.

"**uWAAAAAAH! OMG! I PET dA HUUMAN! dIS ARE TEH HAPIEST DAI OV MAH LIEF!**"

Its short little legs caved in, and it fell onto its side in a state of delirious happiness, its small tail wagging ecstatically. The human was somewhat dumbfounded by this little monster's erratic behavior, but at the same time, she found it entertaining in a strange way.

She bent down to pick it up, and its tiny legs kicked against her abdomen as they hung unsupported. Ginger didn't think the already huge smile on the Temmie's face could get much bigger, but it turned out she couldn't have been more wrong.

"**uEEEEE!? Teh tobles haz turnd!? uWAUGH humans r STRONGK!**"

The human emitted somewhat of a scoff of a laugh.

The Temmie nestled into her arms, still wearing the biggest grin on its face.

"Need a lift anywhere?"

"**tEM VILLAGE! mi frenz wil be so exitd! teh'll glomp u!**""

_Temmie Village; so that was where the mushroom path lead to._

"Give me directions, why don't you?"

"**keep goin, den turn south off da path. iZ rite up ahead frum dare!**"

"On it."

She followed the directions given to her, turning south off of the mushroom path, and finding that there was indeed an unlit path leading into another room. Still carrying the Temmie, she read the sign just around the corner where the hallway ended.

"**hOI!  
welcom to...  
TEM VILLAGE!**"

Ginger turned back around to match the path direction-

And immediately found herself being eyed up by a good six other Temmies standing right there. They all gasped, looking up at the human with those same, sparkling eyes.

And their synchronized scream rang out.

"**hOOOOOOMAAAANNN!**"

The little white cat-dogs swarmed Ginger's feet, gabbing happily at her.

"**hOI! i'm temmie!**"

"**awawawawa! humanz such a cUTE!**"

"**I'm his fwend, temmie!**""

"**And i'm temmie! don forget my fwen!**"

"**uWEEEEEEEE! hOOMINZ!**""

"**dON swarm! giv space!**" the first Temmie hollered, jumping down out of Ginger's arms and shooing its comrades out of her way. "**uLL scare her oFF!**"

All of the other Temmies backed away, though still very excited by the ordeal. The first one dug something out of its short pocket and handed it up to the human.

"**taek dis 4 tripp to da Barrir. maybe use it at tEM SHOP! mite find...gOOD STUFF! liek...tEM FLAKES!**"

And then it left to join its kindred in whatever thing they did. Ginger opened her hand; twenty-five gold. She was getting more and more of this stuff.

After stowing it away, she took the opportunity to look around; there was a painting on the wall, depicting a Temmie fighting a fearsome dragon. There was another box not far up ahead, and with it sat a Save Point. Ginger approached it.

***Waterfall-Temmie Village**

***File Saved**

If Temmies could be as determined as humans, would that make it **DETEMMIENATION**?...Sans might like that.

Two signs across from the box and Save Point sat at each side of another small den entry.

"**hOI!  
u shud check out...  
TEM shop!**"

"**yaYA! i AGREES!  
shud check...  
TEM SHOP!**"

"Lookin' to check out the shop?"

The voice behind her came from...another Temmie? He looked calmer than the others.

"...Was that you?"

"Yep. Heh...I get that reaction all the time," he remarked, cordially extending one of his paws, which Ginger bent down to meet halfway. "Pleasure; name's Bob. You?"

"Ginger. You're uh...awfully different from your buds."

"Eh, I could never really get into the whole...whatever it is that's with them. Besides, having a translator keeps the tourism from hitting rock bottom, so it's a living."

"Well, I'd hope that works out."

"It's been going alright. Yeah, the shop; if you got anything you might wanna take your hands off, that's the place to go. It's a tiny little setup, but it's real popular with the locals, and she'll probably buy some of your stuff, maybe give you some gold. You know, do business."

"Thanks for the info. I'm going in right now," she replied as she did just that. Bob nodded and departed himself.

Ginger entered the den; it was well lit and colorful, the shelves along the walls covered in miscellaneous objects; socks, sticks, bottles, picture frames, and the like.

There in the center of the far wall was a Temmie that looked a bit different that all the others she'd seen thus far; its head hair was silver instead of soft black, and the blue shirt it wore, unlike all of the other Temmies', was striped yellow. The box she was standing behind had the words "**TEM SHOP**" painted on it, and blue and yellow sparkles were drawn around the text.

"**hOI! welcom to da TEM SHOP!**" the monster greeted.

'What have you got, Temmie? Anything I can use?"

"**here SELECHUN! oRDR when donne!**"

And she pulled out a piece of paper with her items written down.

"**tem flake-3G**"  
"**tem flake(ON SALE)-1G**"  
"**tem flake(expensiv)-20G**"

"Uh..."

She remembered the first Temmie saying something about "tem flakes," but she wasn't entirely sure what they were.

"...Might I ask what exactly 'tem flakes' are?"

"**I'm SO GLAD U ASKD! tEMMIE fLAKES!**"

And the monster proceeded to pull a bowl out from inside her cardboard setup. It was full of colorful tidbits, which, upon further inspection, turned out to be...

Before Ginger could finish the thought, Temmie dove her tiny snout into the bowl and began eating them!

"Wha-hey-What is goin' on here!?"

The monster rose its head, her cheeks stuffed and her eyes bugged out.

"**BEKFAST!**"

"Y-you can't eat this! It's just torn up pieces of construction paper!"

"**hN!?**"

Temmie looked at her strangely, then swallowed her mouthful.

"**Oh, that's what they all say...**" she rasped. Her sudden fluency was...a little bit unnerving for some reason, to say the least. "**...I feel sorry for the doubters; I really do. They won't ever truly enjoy the experience that is feasting on a giant bowl of delicious Temmie Flakes first thing in the morning. They're missing out on one of the greatest things this life has to offer.**"

"Um...I-I'm sorry if I was in any way o-offensive, Temmie. I guess I'm just...a little surprised is all."

"**Hmm...nO PROBLUM! tEM understand prefurencez!**"

And just like that she was her old self again.

"**hNNN,**" Temmie groaned, suddenly frustrated. "**sHAME. tEM gotta sell lota iTEMS 2 pay 4 colleg. tEM wanta pursu higher education. bUT tEM broke.**"

"College, huh? How much is that?"

"**isa lOTA MUNS,**" Temmie replied. "**1000G.**"

"Oh, man. That IS a lotta muns. How do you think you're gonna be able to get all that?"

"**tEM open da tEM SHOP to help pay 4 colleg, but also axcept dONASHUNS. dO tEM favr and spred word bout tEM SHOP! sure to get bizness buzzlen!**"

"Hmm...I think I have an idea. I'm gonna head out, but you can bet I'll be back to check and see how things are coming along, you hear?"

"**tHANKS sUPPORT! bOI, humann!**"

"Boi, Temmie!"

Ginger immediately threw a hand over her mouth. Did she just...

_Oh, dear Glaux, they're rubbing off on me._

She turned and left, leaving the Tem Shop keeper with a wave. As she turned back up the corner and onto the mushroom path, she looked back at the other village residents one more time. They were bustling about doing...Temmie things. She'd be back; maybe not too long from now.

She liked the Temmies. They were pleasant little things...but she had to admit, she didn't know how long it would take for their quirky behavior and speech to work its way into HER brain if she stuck around them for too long; she had barely been in the village for twenty minutes and she had almost started to SPEAK like them. It would be enough to drive one mad.

It wasn't long before the mushroom path carried her back onto the main dirt road, and Ginger retraced her footsteps back across the small bridges and past the old plaques until she reached that den just next to the box. She'd passed them by so many times before, paying them little to no mind; her messenger bag nullified their purpose, so she had no use for them.

That, however, was about to change.

Ginger sat down in the dirt in front of the box, slid the bag off her back from under her cloak, pulled out a pencil and paper from the main pouch, smoothed her sheet out on the box top and wrote on it. When she'd finished, she propped the paper up, wedging the bottom of the sheet in between the dirt wall and the back of the box, leaning it back just slightly so it wouldn't fall forward, and finally, she stepped back to take a look at it.

"**Help pay for Temmie's College Intuition: Donations Appreciated.**"

"Hmm...It's missing something."

She put the paper down on top of the box again, tapping the eraser against her chin thoughtfully. It got the message across, but it seemed a little...bland. No pop, like the colorful painted writing on Temmie's box setup in her shop. The human didn't think of herself as that great an artist, but she could at least try something.

In the bottom right corner, she drew a little round, smiling face, then the hair, then the ears-both sets-and then made two lines for the torso, adding some more inside of them to indicate the stripes on her shirt. Ginger rose the paper to get a better look at her little doodle, and her eyes widened. The little Temmie sketch had...actually come out looking like Temmie. A LOT like one, actually.

_...Not bad, Ginger._

She propped the paper up again, still looking at it just in case she saw anything that need be erased.

"Well, I'll be...I'd say it looks just like one o' them lil' fellers!"

"HEY, WHAT THE-!?"

The phantom voice came from RIGHT over her shoulder, and she scrambled to her feet and whizzed around to find herself face-to-face with...

A tortoise?

"Did I scare ya?" he rasped, and then emitted sort of a wheezy laugh. "Not a surprise; get that a lot."

She could tell immediately that he was old. Very old, in fact.

"Who...Where'd you come from...?"

"Right over on in there," he replied, pointing over to the den. "I thought I heard...somethin goin' on out here. Didn't know if these old ears were playin' tricks on me or what, so I came out to make sure, and...well...here I am! Heh!"

"Is...that your shop?"

"Sure is. Got some neat junk for sale, in case you're interested."

He squinted, and a glimmer of realization came to his gaze.

"...But even if you're not, I might suggest you come in anyway. I'll explain later."

And he seemed to march back into the tiny cave. For someone of such great age, it looked like he could get around pretty well. Ginger picked her messenger bag back up onto her back and followed him in. As soon as she went inside, her eyes lit up; sparkling violet and blue stones were scattered all over the walls and ceiling of the cavern, and they gave it an otherworldly glow. On the back wall of the cave, there was a strange symbol; it was the same one she'd seen in the Ruins, that circle with wings hovering over the three triangles. She wondered about it.

"Now!" the old tortoise announced, sitting down behind a large stone serving as a makeshift counter. His items and prices were written out on a plaque on the front of the rock. "Anything I can getcha?"

"Well...Before I delve in, mind if I ask, uh...why you brought me in here?"

"Oh. Right. See, when I saw whatcha really looked like, I remembered...Undyne came through here askin' me if I'd seen someone. Someone that, from what I could piece together, looked a lot like you. Mysterious cloak, striped sweater, tawny head o' hair...Human. It's been a few years since I've seen one o' those. But I've seen a lot in my day; you could say I'd even fought against some."

"You mean the ones that came before me?" she questioned, finding herself backing away, afraid he might pose a danger.

"N'aw. I'm talkin' WAY back. Before the Barrier was formed."

"Wait...You mean you..."

Ginger came closer again, not sure if she'd heard him right.

"You fought in the War of Humans and Monsters...?"

"You betcha. Gerson: Hammer o' Justice. That's what I was known by...But those days are long gone. All the humans I hammered are long gone, even if they did live through the broken bones I gave 'em. Heh heh heh...But you? Ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout me. Don't hold a grudge against someone who wasn't even around back then; it's not right doin' that. Besides, tryin' to fight you with these old bones o' mine don't seem like the brightest idea, now, don't it? Figured I'd spare you a gruesome end, just in case Undyne came back around; she's not as keen on your kind as I am! Wah hah hah hah-!"

His burst of laughter curdled into a brief coughing fit.

"Uh...You okay?"

"Heh...My bad; those are gettin' a lil' more frequent these days."

"So...Undyne's still on my tail. I guess it was a good thing I took a detour and visited Temmie Village."

"Smart choice, kid! She hates that place! No way she'd go lookin' for you there!"

"Heh...Guess that was a good idea."

"Speakin' of those Temmies, isn't that what you were doodlin' over there? Couldn't quite make out what you wrote above it; what's it for?"

"Oh, uh...See, I just came back from the village, and the Temmie that runs the shop is trying to raise money to pay for her education, so I thought it'd be a good idea to set up a little donation...box...thing, I guess. Just in case anyone wanted to help her out. I might have paid for it myself, but I don't exactly have 1000G."

"Heh...You know, for someone with a lot o' folks after ya, you don't seem too bothered by it."

"I, ah...know how to worm my way out of a pinch pretty well. Someone helped me out when I first fell down here and her advice really came in handy...I'm glad I haven't dusted anyone yet by accident; turns out monsters are a lot weaker than humans in terms of physicality."

She hadn't dusted anyone yet. It was...TECHNICALLY the truth. What she had done to Toriel had been erased from the timeline, even if she did still carry the memory of it.

Ginger shook the thought from her head, and diverted her attention to the prices written out on the rock.

"**Crab Apple-25G**"  
"**Sea Tea-18G**"  
"**Cloudy Glasses-30G**"  
"**Torn Notebook-55G**"

"Hmm...What's the Sea Tea like?"

"Huh...Didn't think humans cared for the stuff much. Made from glowin' marshwater and Echo Flowers. Give you a good energy boost, lemme tell ya; one o' my favorites. Undyne's a pretty big fan of it, too...but she prefers the Golden Flower stuff."

"Sounds alright. Here's the gold."

She dug out 20G and put it on the rock.

"Ah, keep the change. I don't usually use much of this stuff."

"Well, thanks for that! Here, I'll go get the stuff ready...Gonna take a bit for the water to boil, though, so stick around...You know, I think I might just have some, myself right about now, you know?"

He got up from his rock and marched over to what looked like a small stovetop in the far corner, prepping a kettle in quick time before returning to where he sat.

"So...the captain," Ginger remarked. "Do you, uh...know her personally?"

"Are you kiddin' me? I've known her ever since she was a lil' urchin! She's come a long way from followin' me around, tryin' to 'beat up bad guys' for me...Most of the 'bad guys' she tried to beat up weren't actually bad guys, though...It'd be more like the mailman, or somethin' like that. But I appreciated the thought! Heh!"

"That reminds me of this kid I met in Snowdin; he comes around here to do the same thing with her, so he says."

"Lil' yeller feller? Few spikes? No, uh...no arms?"

"Yeah, him! You know who I'm talkin' about!"

"Heh, no doubt. Kidd, I think his name was...? Well, history repeats itself, it looks like. You know...You remind me somethin' of Undyne; you've got that same fightin' spirit in ya...I'm guessin' I'm not the only one here who's seen the face of battle? Looks like you've got some sort o' trainin' under your belt. You don't get muscles like that from sittin' around watchin' that metal rectangle carry out a bunch o' nonsense all day."

"Oh, yeah. Him. Not a fan. Well, Mr. Gerson, you're...not wrong. I do train for the battlefield. Sometimes, I even get put out on the frontlines...Not all the time though; my higher-ups say I'm skilled, but I'm still technically in the training phase, so usually me and my squadron just take care of local mobs."

"Intrestin'...She was just about your age when she started her one-on-one training with ol' King Fluffybuns to get into the Royal Guard."

"'Fluffybuns'?"

"Oh, yeah! King Asgore Dreemurr! Friendly, happy-go-lucky kinda guy. You've heard of him, I'm guessin'?"

"Heh...Fluffybuns..Where'd you get than name from?"

"Oh, well, that's a real funny story, lemme tell ya! It, uh...eh...Heh. I don't remember it. But it'll probably come back to me one of these days! Eh, where was I at...? Oh, yeah. Undyne. She trained with him day and night to get into the Royal Guard. And get in she did, through grit and determination alone! Fought her way right to the very top! Though I will say this; your passion for the battlefield...You seem to be able to keep it in check a lot better than Undyne. She was a rowdy lil' thing from as early as she could stand! And she's, eh...the type to act before she thinks. You're a lil' different; you've got that same spirit and raw determination, but you've got a quick mind to complement it. Undyne's strategy, from what I've witnessed, is to just go in with brute force. But you...? You use yer brain. You assess a situation instead o' rushin' in blindly...You're clever. You're resourceful. You can adapt."

Adapt. That was what she'd been trying to do this whole time. If Gerson said she was good at it, she was more than willing to take his word.

The shrill sound of the kettle squealing filled the air and interrupted the conversation.

"Oh. Water's done boilin'. Sit tight."

He went back over to his tiny stovetop and prepared the beverage for both the human and himself. When he served her, she took in a deep breath of the white steam rising from the small, faded green teacup before taking a cautious sip of it.

The scent reminded her of an estuary; the small border between a fresh flowing river and a salty sea, not quite marshy, and not quite a briny. The bittersweet essence of the Echo Flowers paired with the slightly salty hints of the bioluminescent algae that once bloomed in the tea water gave it an earthy taste.

Not bad for something made of marsh water. Not at all, as a matter of fact. She let slip a surprised grin.

"Ah, like it, do ya? Can't say I expected that. Last human that came here and tried some spat it out all over the place the moment it graced his tastebuds! It was everywhere! You shoulda seen it! Heh heh heh!"

"Oh, my Glaux..." Ginger wheezed the last word. "That's terrible."

"Yeah, well...Didn't mean no harm, he did. In fact, I'm thinkin' he took a likin' to me...But I guess he knew what was comin to him. Gave me these before he left."

He pulled something out from behind the rock and displayed them. It was the Cloudy Glasses and Torn Notebook that his sign said he had for sale.

"Now, I'm prob'ly not gonna be around much longer, so I thought maybe someone could take these off my hands, maybe keep 'em somewhere as some sort of...I don't know, memorabilia, I guess. It ain't that I don't care for 'em anymore. Quite the contrary, really; I wanna see them well taken care of when I'm gone."

"Did...Asgore collect his SOUL?"

"That he did...But if his plan goes accordingly, we can at least take comfort in the fact he didn't die in vain. None of 'em did...Except...N'aw, whatever. That's another story."

"What did, uh...what'd he look like?"

"Short stuff. Not much younger than you, if I remember correctly...Weird lookin' though. Could barely open his eyes, it looked like.

"Oh...I'd...take them for you, but I haven't really got any permanent digs right now, so I'm uh...not sure how safe they'll be...But I DO know someone who might take them."

"Not the Temmies. They mean well, but I don't trust 'em with delicate stuff."

"Oh, no, no, not the Temmies. I'm thinking of someone else," she corrected lightly, taking another long sip of her drink. "He's a pretty big fan of humans. And he's pretty organized, so I think we can trust him with them. I'll ask him about this when I get the chance."

"Well, that's very nice of ya. You're a good kid...I hope Undyne can see through."

"Um...I have a question."

"What's on your mind?"

"If I-no...WHEN I come face-to-face with Asgore, what'll I have to do to get out of the Underground?"

"Well...only those with a strong SOUL can pass through. If he wanted to, Asgore could take one of the human SOULs he already has stored away, use it to cross over to the outside and then take one more from some unsuspectin' passerby, prob'ly...But he don't wanna. He's too soft. Besides, the last time someone tried that...well...That's a grim story for another time, I'd say...But with a mind like yours and such high levels of DETERMINATION, I'm sure you'll find a way to git outta here in one piece. Heh heh..."

"That's what I'm hoping."

She finished off the Sea Tea, and Gerson motioned to retrieve the empty mug.

"Thanks for the chat, Mr. Gerson. And the tea. It's, uh...hard to believe that most humans don't like this stuff. I hear they're not really into snails that much, either."

"Well, I've heard of a few exceptions. Supposedly, one human culture think of 'em as a delicacy like we do...At least some of them have decent taste, eh!?"

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. Humans are picky. All high and mighty with their supposedly refined ta-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud noise approaching from somewhere outside of the den. Ginger immediately recognized it.

It was the sound of heavy metal boots stomping closer.

"...You hear somethin?" Gerson asked, cupping a hand to one of his earholes. "Can't tell if that's just my old ears or if-."

"It's her. She's coming."

The look of horror the young human conveyed was all he needed to see to know just who she was talking about.

"Behind here," the tortoise said, beckoning her to crouch behind his rock table. And she did so accordingly...

Just as the armored figure of the Royal Guard Captain came in.

"Well, look who came back!" the old monster greeted her, putting on a very convincing act. "Any luck?"

"No, not yet," she replied, surprisingly calmly. Ginger couldn't see it, but her slightly muffled voice indicated that she was still wearing her helmet. "I just came by to make sure it didn't come your way. I've been from Snowdin Forest to the first stretch of Hotland and back, and still nothing. It couldn't have passed through Hotland yet; it've had to pass through Alphys' lab, so she would have said something."

"Ah, Royal Scientist...How's she gettin' along? Been a while since I last saw 'er."

"Oh, she's ah...same as ever, heh...I just hope it doesn't get to her before I get to it. I...goofed up. Tried to kill it by plunging it into the garbage dump; thought it'd mess it up, break its bones. I was planning on coming back and giving it a nice long, agonizing death for what they did to us...But it's still alive; I checked all over the garbage dump and there was no body. But you know what I DID find? An impression in the bed of Golden Flowers. AND a shoeprint. It's still out there. It just HAD to fall onto the flowerbed and have its fall broken, didn't it? Talk about luck..."

"No kiddin'. See this is what I meant when I said to look before ya leap."

"Yeah, yeah, I know...But next time, it's gonna be one-on-one!"

"Make sure you're ready when the time comes!"

"Oh, you better believe I'll be ready...See ya later."

"Hey! How 'bout lookin' round the Hotland stretch? Who knows? She could be headed there right now! Maybe she hid away in Temmie Village waitin' for ya to backtrack!"

"Oh, GOD. Anywhere but there. If I end up having to go in there and...wait...How'd you know it was a 'she'?"

"Lucky guess, I guess. Dunno."

"Hm...Whatever. Doesn't matter what it is, I'm still gonna drive my spear through its brains."

And she turned to leave, the harsh ***clang-clang*** of her boots fading into the distance.

Ginger rose her head up from behind the stone once they disappeared, a cold drop of sweat dripping down her brow.

"Well...I guess it's safe to say that went well...?"

"I'm sure enough it is. I'd say now's a good time to find a better place to hide away than with the Temmies, though, while ya have the chance."

"On it. Thanks again for everything, Mr. Gerson!" she bid as she went out of the shop.

"Be careful out there, kid!"

She peeked outside of the den entry and scanned about the outside; the possibility that Undyne might still be lurking around the direct vicinity heightened her guard. But she didn't see her anywhere, nor did she detect the sound of her heavy footsteps, so she made her next move.

She pulled her cellphone out and rang Papyrus' number.

"_THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS SPEAKING! MAY I ASK WHO IS CALLING?_""

"Hey Papyrus," she answered, though not too loudly.

"_OH! HUMAN! GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN! YOU COULD SAY I WAS GETTING A LITTLE WORRIED...YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY STILL ALIVE. HOW ARE THINGS WITH YOU?_"

"Just came out of Gerson's shop. You been there before?"

"_WHY, YES I HAVE! HE'S BEEN AROUND FOR A VERY LONG TIME, YOU KNOW. UNDYNE AND I HOLD A LOT OF RESPECT FOR HIM._"

"I kinda got that part; he was a big help. I'm alright, but you could say I had a close call."

"_OH? WHAT DID I MISS?_""

"I'll fill in the details later. In the mean time, remember how we agreed that I could come back whenever I got the chance?"

"_DO YOU HAVE SUCH A CHANCE NOW?_"

"Undyne's headed to the Hotland stretch as we speak...wherever that is. I'm gonna find my way back to Snowdin from here and trip her up."

"_SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN! UNTIL YOUR ARRIVAL, I'LL ALERT SANS AND CRAFT A GOOD HIDING SPOT FOR YOU IN THE CASE SHE RETURNS! IF YOU NEED A LIFT, TRY THE RIVERPERSON! THE BOAT FERRY SHOULD BE JUST SOUTH OF GERSON'S SHOP! THEY'LL GIVE YOU A LIFT FOR NO CHARGE!_"

"Awesome. Hate to cut this short, buddy, but I've got to stay on my toes. See ya later."

"_GOOD LUCK, HUMAN! THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SIGNING OFF!_"

And he was gone, and Ginger followed said path down to the river bank. There, just off the edge on the water, was a small boat, manned by a mysterious-looking hooded figure. Their cloak extended all the way down to the ground, and the shadows of its hood concealed the face of the being.

"Tra la la..."

The voice sounded somewhat old, but not as rough as Gerson's. Quieter. Higher-pitched. Almost eerily so.

"I am the Riverman...Or am I the Riverwoman? People keep guessing...I love to ride in my boat. Would you care to join me?"

"That's...why I'm here, actually. Mind giving me a lift to Snowdin?"

"My pleasure."

So she boarded the little wooden boat.

"Then we're off..."

The Riverperson pulled out an oar and began to paddle upstream. The flow was calm, and easily pushed against. The air was still, and the only sounds to be heard were the humming of the Riverperson and the gentle flow of the water as it brushed against the banks or was pushed by the boater's oar.

"Tra la la...What's inside an acorn? It's really just a mystery."

"Um...I...happen to know, if you're curious."

"Oh...?"

"Yep. Little tan nut; it's usually teardrop shaped, I think. I...uh...don't recommend eating them raw, though. I hear they're EXTREMELY bitter. So, uh...Unless you're a deer or a squirrel, or something like that that can stomach the stuff, then, uh...well...you're probably gonna have a bad time."

"Tra la la...Raw, you say? What if they are roasted?"

"I...think I've heard of a method of doing that? I don't know. It's been a while. From what I can remember, though, I think the nuts are prepared a certain way to remove the bitter components...leaching, was it called...? I don't know. You have to look more into it. But in the mean time, I think I'll stick to hazelnuts, thank you very much."

"You are a knowing young SOUL. Tra la la..."

"I got that from a friend of mine. She's sort of a bookworm."

_I wonder if Ulkah's read up on how to cook worms...Wouldn't surprise me._

"Erm...Why do you ask, though?"

"Oh. Just so I know you're listening. Many a time people have spaced out, so to say, during the ride."

"I'll admit; I might have myself if you hadn't asked about that acorn business."

"Hmm...You are an odd one. But that which is odd can be good...or bad...Tra la la...Monsters...Humans...Flowers..." the hooded figure murmured.

"Wait, what was that last one?"

"Hm? Oh...nothing. Just wondering about things. Tra la la..."

Ginger felt the air grow more dry and more cold, and a chill was sent down her spine so she brought her hood back up and wrapped the cloak around herself more securely. She wasn't sure, though, if the chill came from the cold, or what she thought the Riverperson had said. She could have sworn they said something about-

"...Cloaks. They make any wearer seem that much more...mysterious, do they not?"

"Ha...I should think so. That's partly why I wear mine so much."

"Your reasons are not foreign to me. Tra la la...Here we are."

Ginger looked up ahead. Sure enough, the snowy river bank was coming into plain view, and that was where the boat stopped. Ginger stepped out off of the boat and onto the firm, white-sheeted ground.

"Come again some time. Tra la la..." the Riverperson finished as they paddled away. Ginger wondered if they'd be back.

The path from the river went south, and she followed it back into the cheery town of Snowdin. She dragged her feet some as she walked through the snow, distorting the shallow prints her shoes made. If, by any chance, Undyne decided to take the boat back to Snowdin, she might not be able to recognize her tracks.

The human imagined that it looked very strange, but it would probably save her hide if her predictions were correct.

Finally, she stood up. To the west were the shop and inn, to the east was the library, and not far past the library was that familiar two-story log cabin. She'd made it.

Still dragging her feet, she approached the house, silently noting that Sans still hadn't collected his mail, and was just about to knock on the front door when she heard a crash and a cry coming from the shed on the other side.

"**NYEGH!**"

She immediately recognized the voice, and rushed over to see just what was going on. Trying to hold back the strong urge to panic, she knocked on the door to the shed.

"HUH?"

The sound of someone rushing to the door came right after, and before she even realized it, Papyrus had opened the door and was standing before her, looking perfectly fine.

"HUMAN! YOU'VE ARRIVED!" he exclaimed, greeting her with open arms. Ginger barely noticed herself accepting the friendly embrace.

"HEY...WHAT HAPPENED? I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T LIKE HUGS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"Wait..."

Ginger finally realized what she'd done, and immediately pulled away, reestablishing her slick and smooth persona.

"So...What happened in here? Heard a pretty, uh...startling noise."

"OH. I WAS JUST CLEARING AWAY THESE OLD BARS I SET UP FOR A HUMAN ENCLOSURE, SEEING AS THEY ARE NO LONGER NECESSARY. THE CRASH CAME FROM ME DROPPING ONE OF THE LOGS, WHICH WAS THEN FOLLOWED UP BY ME YELPING, REALIZING THAT IT WAS INCHES AWAY FROM FALLING ONTO MY FOOT."

"Eesh!"

"IT'S A GOOD THING IT MISSED. OH, I'M BEING SO RUDE...DO COME IN!"

She stepped inside, and saw that all of the logs had been taken down. A chainsaw lay on the floor, and a swept pile of sawdust was sitting in the corner beside a broom. In the far right corner across from the broom and pile was the wood, neatly stacked into a pyramid shape.

"WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT I DID!" Papyrus told her, leading her over to the log pyramid. "YOU SEE THIS PILE OF CUT-UP LOGS? IT LOOKS JUST LIKE AN ORDINARY PILE OF CUT-UP LOGS, DOESN'T IT?"

"...What's the catch?"

"OBSERVE."

He pulled on one of the top logs, appearing to be taking it off...only to reveal that the log, and the five others around it, were connected to a wooden trapdoor, which lead into a small square compartment.

"GO ON INSIDE AND SEE IF YOU FIT."

Intrigued, the human climbed up the logs and hopped in, and Papyrus shut the trapdoor above her, shrouding the tiny space in darkness. Even without the light, she could tell that each dimension was about four feet across, giving her a bit of extra room to stretch her limbs out some.

"A SUPER-SECRET HIDING SPOT!" the skeleton remarked, pulling the top back open. "NO ONE WOULD EVER SUSPECT AN INNOCENT-LOOKING PILE OF FIREWOOD TO BE HOUSING A HUMAN INSIDE OF IT!"

She climbed back out and stood before the secret compartment beside him.

"Papyrus, you're a sprinking genius."

"AND THAT'S NOT THE BEST PART!"

He then proceeded to pull another one of the logs off of the side of the firewood ruse...and this one actually came off in his hand.

"THE TOP LAYER OF LOGS ALONG THE SIDES ARE LOOSE! ONE CAN TAKE THEM OFF AND USE THEM, SO IT'S EVEN MORE CONVINCING!"

"And this took you HOW much time to finish? Didn't I JUST get off the phone with you, like, fifteen minutes ago?"

"I EVEN SURPRISED MYSELF WITH HOW QUICKLY I GOT IT DONE! ONE CAN DO GREAT THINGS WITH THE AID OF AN ADRENALINE RUSH! ANYWAYS, I FIXED THE PLACE UP SOME MORE BEFORE WE LAST SPOKE, JUST IN TH CASE OF THIS EVENT. MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME, HUMAN! SHOULD YOU NEED ME, I WILL BE IN THE KITCHEN MAKING SPAGHETTI!"

"Hey, got a tip for you."

"I'M ALL EARS!"

"Maybe use less oil. And don't drop the box in the pasta."

"NO...? HM...THAT'S HOW UNDYNE AND I USUALLY DO IT. BUT I'LL SEE HOW THAT WORKS OUT!"

He shut the door and disappeared. Ginger scanned the shed; he really HAD been sprucing it up a lot. The dog bed and bowls were gone, and in their place was an old, yet still intact mattress, complete with bedding, a neat stack of books, and an empty cardboard box in the corner that was labeled "**DEFINITELY NOT HUMAN STUFF**" on the side.

"...Probably gonna have to turn that writing towards the wall," she remarked. Papyrus had really gone out of his way to improve her stay.

She was glad she had some people down here that backed her up, even if her SOUL was the one thing they needed to be free from the mountain. There were so many good monsters down here, filled to the brim with hope, love and compassion.

And this filled her with **DETERMINATION.**

* * *

**A/N: Phew! Finally got this done! Kinda wondering how I'll go about the next chapter. Most of it is probably going to be Ginger prepping for the eventual fight against Undyne...Might be sort of a filler chapter, but there will be some canonical events, I can tell you that much!**

**Later!**


	15. Chapter 13: Plots, Plans and Preparation

"I THINK I FOUND HIM! IS THIS THE ONE?"

"Oh, yeah. That's him, alright."

"Let me get this straight," the dummy inquired, a skeptical look settling in his beady eyes. "You WANT me to fight you? After what you saw me do LAST TIME?"

"That's right."

"..._Why?_ You humans have a couple screws loose, if you ask me."

"Says the one who's stuffed body keeps falling apart...Look. I need a training dummy. And one that can fight back hard and give me a decent workout without getting hurt itself is a win-win. Papyrus, you said that he was also Undyne's training dummy for a while?"

"HE TECHINICALLY STILL IS...BUT SHE SELDOM USES IT ANYMORE, SHE GETS TO PRACTICE ON REAL OPPONENTS SO MUCH NOW."

"I see...But he never actually fought against Undyne?"

"Nope. Just sorta sat there while she beat me to a pulp. Didn't mind the attention much. In fact, I was pretty laid back...until...you know what you did," he growled.

"Oh, I'm gonna have a good time punching you out," Ginger sneered. "Don't hold anything back! Papyrus. Care to watch?"

"WELL, I'VE GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO AT THE MOMENT, SO YES! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL OVERSEE YOUR SELF-TRAINING REGIMENT!"

The dummy fired up his first onset of cotton missiles, and his young adversary swerved around them as they came. She hadn't been half bad at the whole dodging bullets thing so far, but if there was room for improvement, she was more than willing to fill it in. When the cotton balls ceased, she sprinted at the dummy and gave it a series of light punches around the middle, spun to its back and elbow its side, then stun it with a backhand straight up before sending a solid uppercut flying up his chin. It knocked the dummy's head clean off.

"I'll give you credit," the disembodied head remarked as it floated back to the top of the body and reattached itself there. "You're strong for a human. Might stand a chance against Captain Yells-a-lot yet...A chance."

"Well, every second you're here, that sliver of a chance gets a little bigger!"

And she shot her leg out, knocking the dummy's middle right out onto the floor. She saw Papyrus flinch from out of the corner of her eye.

"AND...THIS DOESN'T HURT YOU AT ALL, MAD DUMMY?"

"I'm a ghost. I'm incorporeal. If for some reason my SOUL decides to join permanently with this dummy body, we ain't got nothin' to worry about."

"Hey, Pap. Got anything to time me with?"

"MY PHONE HAS AN INTERNAL CLOCK! THE TIME NOW IS...JUST ABOUT ONE IN THE AFTERNOON! WHY DO YOU ASK?"

"Just wanna see how long I can keep this up!" she replied, sending another hook at the dummy and ducking beneath another cotton ball.

The training continued in this manner for quite some time, and with each slug, kick or smack, Ginger could feel herself getting more and more adept at the blunt-force attacks. Even without claws or wings, she was still a dangerous opponent. And she was glad of it.

She and the mad dummy continued hurling attacks(as well as a few insults) at each other until Ginger had completely drained herself. But the possessed training dummy, being incorporeal, didn't seem like he'd lost an ounce of his energy.

"Had enough?" the dummy barked.

"You...You're lucky...to be...a ghost..." she huffed. "Or you...you'd be...the same...if not worse."

"MY GOODNESS..." the skeleton remarked, checking the time. "YOU WERE AT THAT FOR ALMOST A GOOD FORTY MINUTES."

"Great...! Progress...! Next time..."

She cleared her throat and swallowed mid-sentence.

"...Next time let's see if we can get to an hour!"

"MY, MY...YOU REALLY ARE A DETERMINED YOUNG HUMAN."

"Oh, you have no idea."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"What sort of books did you leave here, Papyrus?" Ginger wondered aloud, undoing the pile and skimming over each title as she picked it up.

"_Advanced Puzzle Construction for Critical Minds_"

"Of course he'd have something like this..." she commented.

"_The Beginning Builder's Basics to Architecture_"

"Huh..."

"_G_ _d_n _a_say's __Pas_ion for Flav_ur_"

The author's name on the top, along with some of the more easily read title, was blurred in several places by what looked like water damage, so she could only make out a few letters of their name...or HIS name, maybe, if the assumption that the obviously male human on the front cover was him.

One thing was for sure, he looked like a frinking donkey.

She put it aside and read the title of the book beneath it.

"_Peekaboo with Fluffy Bunny_"

"...What...?"

This...wasn't something she expected to see in the pile. A tiny, colorful boardbook among the sophisticated manuals and guides. Come to think of it...didn't Toriel have a copy of this book? She thought she remembered skimming over the title of it on the bookshelf in her would-have-been room. Did she once have children herself? She didn't seem like the youngest monster, but she was by no means elderly from what she could see. Ginger wondered if she'd come across any of her daughters or sons during her trek. If she did, she'd probably suggest to them that they pay her a visit; she seemed quite lonely.

It was the least she could do for Toriel, after all she did to help her.

She put the children's book aside and skimmed over the next title.

"_HAND-TO-HAND: A Guide to Unarmed Melee Combat. By Captain Doge Polemuttis_"

"Hello, what's this?" she marveled. This was just what she needed. "Thank you, Papyrus."

The human opened the book up to somewhere in the first half, and found a brief description of the different types of punches, along with illustrations of the maneuvers and target areas, and how to utilize them in melee combat.

"**Jab: Make sure to keep hand in front of your guard.  
Difficult to land with efficient strength, but good for  
feigning the real punch(e.g. hook or straight.) Use  
to help keep enemies at bay.**"

"**Overhead: Deliver to the head for best results. When  
carried out correctly, the offender's entire body can be  
thrown out of whack. However, because of its efficiency,  
it is very predictable and easy to defend against. Use  
wisely and sparingly**."

"**Hook: Very versatile and efficient, seeing as the entire  
body can be put behind the blow for maximum output.  
Deliver to the chin or ribcage to stun the opponent while  
also dealing major damage.**"

"**Uppercut: Hard to block; useful defensive mechanism  
in short-range combat. Can be delivered to the chin from  
below, or, less predictably, below the ribcage. May cause  
added bonus of abdominal regurgitation, which can be  
used as an opportunity to flee or further strike.**"

There were a few more, but Ginger had read enough for now. The mad dummy was sitting silently in the corner of the shed, probably having dozed off. Did ghosts sleep? It seemed that they could. But they didn't get tired. Maybe they just did it out of boredom.

But it was nearly time to start up another training session, and she was eager to put what she'd read to use, so he wouldn't be bored much longer.

"HUMAN!"

The familiar smell of spaghetti wafted through the shed. It was time.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"You really _have_ been doin' your homework on this. You made me fall apart, like, what? Twice? Three times as much as the last time?"

"Heh..."

Her legs caved in, and she sat down on the wood floor.

"You...could say...I have...Papyrus...How long...?"

"NEARLY FIFTY MINUTES. ALMOST AN HOUR."

"Close...Enough...! HA!"

The human let the rest of herself fall over. She was exhausted, but satisfied with her progress.

"YOU SEEM AWFULLY WORN OUT FROM YOUR TRAINING, HUMAN. CARE TO FINISH THE SPAGHETTI?"

"I'll...do that...Just...give me a second..."

"I HAVE NEWS. UNDYNE JUST CONTACTED ME. SHE'S GOTTEN SO WRAPPED UP IN TRACKING YOU DOWN AND TRYING TO OUTTHINK YOU, SHE'S GOING TO GO THROUGH PART OF HOTLAND, JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU DIDN'T SLIP PAST THE LAB CAMERAS IN THAT DARK CLOAK OF YOURS! THERE ARE A LOT OF PUZZLES IN HOTLAND, AND...WELL...SHE'S NOT VERY GOOD AT MOST OF THEM, SO SHE'LL BE A LONG WHILE! CARE TO VENTURE BACK TO WATERFALL AND KILL SOME TIME?"

"Sounds...sounds like a plan," she answered, regaining her breath. "Just...Wait until I finish the spaghetti and...let me put my cloak back on. No sweater. That thing's gettin' too sweaty...And, uh...By the way."

"YES, HUMAN?"

"The spaghetti...You followed my advice, didn't you...? About the box and the oil...?"

"YES INDEEDY, I DID!"

"Big improvement...Sans is gonna be pleased. We should convince him to try some..."

"GREAT IDEA! WE'LL HAVE TO DRAG HIM OUT OF THAT GREASEHOUSE HE KEEPS GOING TO, THOUGH..."

"Just make sure you let me be the one to tell him. If it's you, he might not believe it."

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Riverperson's been kinda quiet this round... _Ginger said to herself.

"Tra la la...I hear Asgore has a favorite food..."

"IS IT SPAGHETTI?"

"Probably...Probably not...Tra la la..."

At least the mysterious figure had decided to say SOMETHING. Although why they'd waited until the ride was nearly over, neither of them knew. Not long after the brief exchange of words, the two passengers stepped onto the riverbank just south of Gerson's store.

"Come again some time. Tra la la..."

As they walked away, Ginger started up.

"Do they always talk all weird like that?"

"OH, YES. AND BELIEVE ME. THEY'VE SPOKEN OF STRANGER THINGS THAN THE KING'S DIETARY PREFERENCES."

"Freaky..."

When they reached the end of the path, Ginger saw a monster putting some gold in the donation box she'd set up. It looked up at her, showing his face.

And the human immediately recognized it.

"Oh, no...Not you," she moaned.

"Wow...You came all the way back..."

He tensed his muscles.

"...just to see me flex."

Ginger rolled her eyes. At LEAST Aaron was decent enough to lend a hand to Temmie.

"Guess you decided to change your mind, eh?" he continued, not noticing Papyrus. "Knew people couldn't resist these muscles. But enough about me. Let's talk about you. Education? Hobby? Talents?"

"Self taught. Fighting. And also fighting. And for the last time, I don't care about your muscles."

"Dang...You play hard to get. Almost as hard as Undyne, and she plays the hard card like a boss."

"That's because I've already BEEN gotten. By someone else. Like I _already told you._"

"OH, DEAR..." the skeleton remarked. Clearly, the human was not a fan of the local sea horse.

Aaron finally noticed him when he spoke. And when he did, his jaw dropped, revealing two rows of goofy-looking horse teeth he'd been hiding.

"YOU'RE the one who swept her off her feet?" he questioned, still gawking in disbelief. He then turned toward the human.

"Why!? How!? He ain't got no meat on those bones!"

"ERM...YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG ID-"

Ginger rose a hand for Papyrus to stop. She wanted to see what would happen.

"You prefer that? Over THIS?"

And he flexed again.

"Puh-lease, Aaron. You think I can't-"

And the human tensed her own muscles.

"-FLEX for myself?"

"Oh, flexing contest, huh? Alright. Challenge accepted."

Papyrus looked on at the scene as it played before them, at a complete loss for words. Aaron, the buffest sea horse in the entire Underground, having a flex-off with a comparatively skinny, but nonetheless very determined human.

And the most ridiculous part was that he looked like he was losing.

"Jeez! Your muscles might be small, but it looks hecka good when you flex!"

"At least mine don't look like they're about to burst, like yours! You better hope they make flex tape if that happens so you can fix 'em!"

"Flex tape? That's a load of baloney! I'm not-"

And it was then that Ginger heard a cracking noise coming from somewhere inside the monster. The look of utter horror mixed with a growing notion of pain on his face was all she needed to see to know what'd happened.

He'd torn something.

"That's a lot of damage," the human remarked.

"...You know what...?" Aaron whimpered, his face contorting. "...I think I'm gonna go find some flex tape..."

He kept his arms stuck in the position they were in as he pushed across the path with his eel tail towards the river. The Riverperson, still boarded there, watched him retreat.

"Tra la la...Let's hope he doesn't saw my boat in half..."

"SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THEM?"

"What are they even talking about?"

"I DON'T KNOW. AND I'M HONESTLY NOT SURE I WANT TO."

They exchanged confused glances, but ultimately, they decided it didn't matter much. Ginger opened the box to see if anyone besides Aaron had decided to donate.

And when she pulled the lid open all the way, her eyes bugged out like a Temmie eating Temmie Flakes.

The box was nearly packed full with gold! It was incredible! People around here were so good to each other. So kind, so generous...She almost felt bad knowing she'd have to leave them behind when she left the mountain.

"WOWIE...DID YOU DO THIS!?"

"This just might be enough..." she almost whispered. "...Here's the plan, Pap. Can I call you Pap?"

"OF COURSE! IN FACT, UNDYNE SOMETIMES USES THAT FOR ME."

"Cool. Anyway, I'm gonna take this box o' dough to Temmie Village. In the mean time, do me a solid."

"I'M LISTENING!"

"Go into Gerson's shop and buy the Cloudy Glasses and Torn Notebook. Tell him I sent you. The human. Who knows? He might just give you a discount."

"CAN DO!"

He rushed into the shop, and Ginger followed the path across the bridges again until she made it back to the mushroom path, and from there, she went down south, the chipper commotion of the Temmies growing louder as she drew nearer.

Before she knew it, she was going around the corner and looking out over the many Temmies that made their home in the little village.

"**dA HOOMIN! sHE'S BAK!**" one of them exclaimed.

"**hUMAN!**"

"**uWAAAUGH! wAT's in teh boxx?**"

"**mISTERRY box!**"

"**iT'S A BIG** **SEECRET!**"

"Whatcha got there, kid?"

"Something for the Tem Shop keeper," she answered. "Hope it's enough."

"Ohhh, I think I know what that's for," Bob realized. "She'll be in for a pleasant surprise, wouldn'tcha say?"

"One would think. I'm about to find out."

Ginger turned the corner back into the Tem Shop. The silver-haired Temmie was still sitting there waiting.

"**hOI!**" she greeted. "**welcome bak to tEM** **sHOP!**"

"Hey, Temmie. Got a lil' somethin' for ya."

"**uWA? a bOX? 4 me!?** **tHANK!**"

"Oh, it's not the box, Temmie. It's what's IN the box."

"**hN?**"

She cocked her head in confusion.

"Why don't you open it and see what's inside?" she finished, putting it down on the ground beside her cardboard countertop(seeing it was too heavy to set down on the cardboard without crushing it.) The shopkeeper complied, and flipped it open.

"**WOAUH!**" she exclaimed, stumbling backward. "**tHAS a lOTTA mUNS! lES sEE!**"

And Temmie began the long process of counting the coins. It didn't matter to Ginger how long it took; she was enjoying every minute of it, seeing the monster's huge smile grow wider and wider every passing moment. She eagerly awaited the total, and eventually...

"**...988G! oOOOOH, sO cLOS!**"

_Darn...Just off by twelve._

"**bUT tEM can earn da rest ov da muns! tHANKS DONASHUN!**"

"Hang on, Temmie..."

She checked her messenger bag; she still had 79G. Plenty. She dug out a dozen and placed it before the little monster.

The total needed had been achieved.

"**WOA! tHIS is...tHIS IS...can tem realy acepts...?**"

"It's all yours, Temmie. Donors from probably all over Waterfall stopped by to help pay for it. Even Aaron."

"**aARONz!? hNN! nU! hIS muscles r...not cute! mONSTURS...y u so good 2 tem!? tEM gRATFUL! vERRY GRATFUL! OKs! tem go to colleg and make u prouds! tEM be bak soonn!**"

She grabbed the box, stuffed the extra dozen gold into it, flung it up onto her back(where it somehow stuck without a strap) and dashed out of the shop, running as fast as her little legs could carry her out of Temmie Village and bound for New Home.

Ginger had done a great thing for the little shopkeeper, and she left the village with a satisfied smirk on her face. As she walked the mushroom path, she wondered what sort of education Temmie would pursue. Would she be a professional salesperson or trader, like Trader Mags back in the Kingdoms? That old magpie always seemed to be carrying something for everyone, be it a relic from the human world, a dousing rod, some trinket made by a blacksmith, or anything like that. This was why she was so renowned.

Especially with the owls of the Great Tree, who prided themselves on their advancement compared to most other owls. However, it was being said that Trader Mags was paying less frequent visits to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and even secretly associating with a few low-laying Pure Ones. If King Boron found out, he'd probably convict her of treason, and either banish her from the Ga'Hoole Tree altogether or even have her killed. That Snowy Owl...He'd only been getting worse. In fact, some of the other Guardians, even a few veteran Guardians were said to be starting to doubt the future of the Tree with the way he was ruling it. He was ruining their good legacy with his unbridled attempts to permanently destroy the Tytonic Union. And for what reason? Simply because he didn't trust them? Sure, the Pure Ones weren't always so good and just, but that had all changed with the Great Downing, which had lead to the Great Restoration. Boron had practically driven himself mad trying to find some ulterior motive to the Pure Ones' sudden change of philosophy, and his snipe hunt had blinded him from the reality of the situation. If he weren't so fixed on his goal, maybe...

"Wait...Where am I going?"

Ginger had been so lost in thought that she'd forgotten where she was. The mushroom path looked...different. And she couldn't see the dirt road from which she came anymore. Had she wandered onto a different part of it?

The path wasn't quite as well-lit anymore, the only light source in the immediate area coming from some dimly-glowing fuchsia crystals and glowing blue lanterns scattered about. But the grass was still glowing just enough to see the path without much more assistance, and she could see that it twisted and turned, yet still continued east. She avoided a few dead ends she saw up ahead, and continued, not knowing if she'd be taken back to the dirt road leading back to Gerson's shop or somewhere else entirely.

Finally the grass ended, and before her was a long pool of shallow water. Wondering where this new path she'd found would lead, the human waded through it, and its low temperature made her stiffen, despite not even being knee-deep. Finally, she stepped back onto dry land, and another narrow strip of it lay ahead, similarly to the pool.

The air had gone quiet again...Too quiet, and that familiar sense of dread loomed over her. But she dismissed it as nothing but the dreary atmosphere doing that...She was in Hotland, right? Why would she have come back looking for her so soon?

She squinted as she drew near what looked like an Echo Flower; it looked like a dead end. At least this made it easier to find her way back, in a sense...An Echo Flower, all alone all the way out here. Ginger wondered what it had last heard, so she bent down to listen to it.

But just when she was about to cup her ear to the flower...

"Behind you."

That voice. That deep, booming she-voice.

And then came the clanging boots.

Ginger whizzed around. It was her. She was right there, right in between her and where the pool began.

"...Seven," the captain stated. "Seven human SOULs. With a power as great as that, our king...King Asgore Dreemurr...will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the Barrier forever. He will finally take the surface back from humanity, and give them back the suffering and pain we've endured...Understand that, human?"

She stood her ground, even staring an inevitable death right in the eye. She would not die a coward's death.

"You think I'm going to make it easy for you?" she replied.

And that was when Undyne summoned her glowing blue spear.

"This is your last chance at redemption, human." she snarled. "Give up your SOUL...or else I'll tear it right from your body."

"Try me."

And try she did. She stepped closer.

And then began to run right at her, spear ready to skewer the human right through the heart.

"Hey! Undyne! I'll help you fight!"

Both the victim and the attacker heard the voice coming from the small patch of grass just to along the north of the cave strip, and a familiar-looking young monster emerged. He looked at Undyne, then at Ginger, then at the captain again, and then back at the human.

"YO!" he exclaimed, beaming at his friend. "You actually did it! She's right in front of you! You've got front-row seats to her fight!"

He looked back up at his idol excitedly, admiring her spear as the awe-inspiring blue light emitting from its magical energy glowed fiercly and lit up the cavern with a ghostly glow. She had it pointed, and he followed its line of trajectory to see that it was aimed right at...

...Ginger.

He looked back and forth between them once more, confused as to what exactly was going on.

"...Wait a minute," he pondered. "...Who's she fighting?"

The captain growled in frustration, then grabbed Kidd by the side of his face and began to drag him away from the scene.

"H-hey!" he protested as she pulled him along. "You aren't gonna tell my parents about this, are you!?"

Undyne gave the human one last menacing glance over her shoulder before disappearing. The young Pure One didn't say anything. She just stood there and returned the glare as they disappeared.

She listened in to the Echo Flower, trying to take her mind off of all that'd just occurred.

"_You're not gonna tell my parents about this, are you!?_"

_Darn...It changed._

Now she'd never know what it heard before Kidd's hollering. Oh, well...It didn't matter. What mattered now was that she get out of there and back somewhere safe.

Kidd probably didn't know it, but he'd REALLY saved her hide, just by being there. She'd have to make sure to thank him next time they ran into each other...if there was a next time. If Undyne decided to rat him out for his antics and get him grounded, she wasn't so sure she'd ever get a chance to see him again. She just hoped she had more MERCY towards her fellow monsters than humans.

Odds were, however, that she wasn't going to drag him all the way back to Snowdin if she knew she was still in Waterfall.

Ginger huffed to regain her composure, then stepped back into the water...noticing another path of glowing grass heading north just across from it. Perhaps she'd been to focused on the situation at hand to notice it before. Either that or the fact that it was so dark, at least. Maybe both. But she followed it, wondering where it might lead.

_Hopefully somewhere she won't plan on following me to._

The grass stopped shortly after it began, and the dirt path ahead was lined with Echo Flowers. The human bent down to listen to one of them, having not heard the last one. She was somewhat intrigued by these odd parroting plants; there was nothing like them on the surface, as far as she knew. Perhaps magic had something to do with it.

"_...Hmmm...I-if I say my wish...you promise you won't laugh at me?_"

It was a female voice; high-pitched and somewhat nasally. And it sounded...oddly familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But she guessed it didn't matter much, so she moved on to the next one.

"_Of course I won't laugh!_"

She stopped short. Was that...

"...Undyne?"

It was the same pitch. Same strength. Same volume. But she didn't exactly sound like an angry murder machine, like all of the other times she'd heard her speak.

"_S-someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around...That's my wish._"

The flowers continued the passing conversation as she walked on. Who was Undyne talking to? A friend of hers, perhaps?

"_...*snort*...Tcha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...!_"

"_H-hey! You said you wouldn't laugh at it!_"

_Way to keep your promises,_ she scolded internally.

"_Ha...heh heh...Sorry. It's just funny...That's my wish, too._"

Ginger sighed, shaking her head. This was a starkly different image of the captain from what she'd seen thus far. Cheerful, in good humor...strangely tender. It was odd. Whoever she had been speaking with, they must have been fairly close.

There was a plaque on the wall before the trail turned a corner, and she read it, assuming that it added up with the other ones.

"**However...There is a prophecy. The Angel...The One Who Has Seen the Surface...  
They will return. And the Underground will go empty.**"

An Angel? One that would free the monsters? One that had seen the surface?

...Was SHE the one the prophecy spoke of?

She hoped not. It would spell certain doom for her if it did.

The dirt road lead onto another bridge, and she went to see where it lead. Maybe to Hotland? Who knew?

She climbed onto it. The memory of Undyne's glowing spear platforms came back to her; she considered herself lucky to have gotten past that. She considered herself lucky to still be alive and in one piece at all, even.

"Yo!"

She turned around. A short figure was coming towards her across the bridge.

"K-Kidd?" she realized. "How'd you find me?"

"You didn't follow us back, so I figured you must've gone this way. In a place like this, there are only so many places you can disappear to, you know?"

"Yeah...I figured as much. But what about-"

"...Hey. Mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You, uh...Um...You're...Not really from the capital, are you?"

She stopped short. He knew.

"...No. I'm not," Ginger answered, turning away. "I lied to you. I lied to a few people about that, actually...I'm sorry."

"Hey, wait, Ging'. I'm not mad or anything like that. It...makes sense. You'd wanna keep yourself safe, right? Since you're...you know...a human, and all..."

"How'd you guess? Did, uh...she tell you?"

"Yeah. She did."

"She say anything else?"

"Not too much. Just...'Stay away from that human.' And that she didn't want me to 'get attached.' Haha...She, uh...really wants you-"

"Dead. I know."

Kidd hissed through clenched teeth. He didn't like being in the middle of this situation, but deep within, he knew he had to do...something about it.

"I, uh...guess that makes us, like...enemies or something, I guess? But I...kinda stink at that sorta thing, you know? She told me not to get attached...Heh...Too late. Ha."

"...Sorry about that, too."

"Uh...I got an idea. S-say something mean to me, so I can hate you? I know we're buds and all, but...i-if this is the way it's gotta be..."

"...Uh..."

"It's fine. Say somethin' nasty! Rude! Bad words, even! Tell me the worst thing you've ever heard anyone say!"

"I..."

So many possibilities were flooding her head. Coward. Idiot. Mooncalf. Yeepish wetpooper. Dishonorable scum. Racdrop. Sprink.

Filthy no-good pile of MacHeath scat.

_That one's familiar..._

He was a child. He never meant any ill will towards her. All he wanted was to be friends. She couldn't bring herself to let spill the stream of horrible insults that she had stored away in the back of her mind. So when she finally decided to open her mouth...

"You...You're a...jerk."

Kidd looked perplexed.

"Huh...? Yo...That's your idea of somethin' mean? My sister says that to me _all the time!_"

"...Sorry, Kidd, I...I've got a lot stored away, but...You haven't done anything. You shouldn't have to hear any of it...let alone have it directed at you," she sighed again.

"...Hmm...Guess I gotta do it, then..."

He puffed out his chest.

"I...I hate your guts."

She didn't answer. She just stood there, knowing that neither of them were enjoying this.

"...Man, I...I'm such a turd, huh?" he added, instantly feeling bad for having said it. "I...I'm sor-"

"Don't worry about it, Kidd. You should, uh...probably go home now, though. Do that for me?"

"...Y-yeah," he agreed.

The monster turned tail and began his sprint back the other way.

A fatal mistake.

He lost his footing again, and Ginger watched in terror as he tripped over his own feet trying to keep himself from falling and leaned towards the side, off of the unguarded bridge. Before either of them knew it, he was biting down on the wood with his thick incisors.

"W-wait! Help!" he shrieked through a mouthful of wood. He knew he could only hold on that way for so long.

"Kidd!" the human exclaimed, rushing to his assistance.

She was in such a state of shock that she failed to notice the sound of clanging boots approaching.

Ginger firmly grasped his head in both of her hands, then tried to pull him up that way. She was glad she was able to lift him easily enough, having trained so much.

"Come on! Don't...slip!" she grunted, pulling him along the path of the bridge, up and sideways, until she could reach his sides. She grabbed him below the shoulders and lifted him back up onto his feet. Once he realized there was firm ground beneath him again, he pushed himself up to stand.

The human heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hey...You okay, Kidd?"

He was breathing quickly and heavily, and was shaking.

"...Kidd...?"

"I...I almost-"

"I-it's okay, Kidd, I gotcha, now. I gotcha..." she reassured, letting him lean his scaly head against her and patting his back a little to try and calm him down.

"If...if you weren't here, I'd have been a goner," he acknowledged.

"You're safe, okay?"

"Ha..."

***_clang-clang-clang-clang_***

She tensed, and both of them knew exactly what was behind them.

"Oh, no..." Kidd squeaked before releasing himself from the human's grasp and turning to face Undyne. How long had she been there? Had she just arrived? Did she see everything and just stand there watching to see how things would play out instead of intervening?

_Weird,_ the monster thought. _And...sorta creepy, actually._

He knew he had to do something he never thought he'd do. He stood his ground against who he would otherwise be bathing in the mere presence of.

"Y...Y-yo...Undyne...She's a good human. She saved me. I-if you wanna hurt my friend...You're...You're gonna have to get through me first."

The captain stood there, not saying a word. This was not what she'd expected to happen.

But he couldn't hang around her forever, could he?

She backed away, then turned and headed in the other direction.

"She's gone..." Kidd marveled quietly.

"I...can't believe you actually did that."

"It was the least I could do, Ging'. You...really saved my skin, you know? I guess being enemies was just a nice thought. Heh...We'll just have to be friends instead."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Haha...well...You said it yourself. I should be gettin' home, now...I bet my parents are worried sick about me."

"Careful out there, Kidd."

"Hey, don't worry. I'll just take the Riverperson's boat back to Snowdin! No more narrow bridges! Later, dude!"

And to her relief, Kidd WALKED across the bridge instead of running. A smarter option, especially for someone without arms to pull themselves back up if they fell.

"...Thanks, Kidd," she whispered.

Just when he disappeared, her phone rang. Papyrus, maybe? She hoped; he needed to hear about this.

"Hello?"

"_HUMAN! I HAVE ALARMING NEWS! UNDYNE RANG ME A WHILE AGO AND SAID SHE COULDN'T TREK THE ENTIRETY OF HOTLAND BECAUSE OF THE INTENSE HEAT AND IS GOING BACK TO_ _WATERFALL!_" he rambled. "_BY NOW SHE'S PROBABLY-_"

"She almost did me in just now. If it hadn't been for this kid I met, I'd be toast," she told him, slowly making her way back from the bridge to find the mushroom path again.

"_OH, DEAR ME, THIS IS BAD. WE NEED TO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR YOU TO HIDE!_"

"It seems like she'd headed back your way. But if she knows I'm all the way out here already, I doubt she's going all the way back to Snowdin. Got any ideas?"

"_HMMM...I MIGHT. PERHAPS YOU COULD LURE HER INTO TEMMIE VILLAGE, THEN WHILE SHE'S SEARCHING THROUGH THERE, I CAN CALL HER AND SAY 'UNDYNE! THE HUMAN HAS JUST MADE A MAD DASH WEST WHILE YOU WERE SEARCHING THROUGH THE SEA OF TEMMIES! AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE SHE'S STOPPING! PERHAPS YOU CAN BEAT HER TO SNOWDIN WITH THE AID OF THE RIVERPERSON AND SET UP AN AMBUSH!_"

"P...Papyrus, you're a sprinking genius! Wait; I have something you can add!"

"I'M ALL EARS!"

"Tell her to set up the ambush...AAAAAAALL the way at the door to the Ruins, and to sit and wait there, since I'll be there eventually! She'll be there for a long time...Because I'm never going to show up! It's perfect! Although I WILL have to think of a safe enough way to lure her onto the mushroom path...Speaking of which, I just found it again. I'm gonna need to keep going if we're gonna do this thing the right way.

"_WHY DON'T YOU SEE IF ANY OF THE WATERFALL LOCALS YOU'VE MET WOULD BE WILLING TO HELP YOU OUT? MAYBE THEY'LL HELP SLIP HER UP! AND I'LL DO MY PART ONCE SHE'D WELL WITHIN THE PRESENCE OF THE TINY TEMS!"_

"We're so sneaky, aren't we? Heh heh..."

"_LET'S JUST HOPE SHE DOESN'T CATCH ME HELPING YOU...IT WOULD RUIN OUR WONDERFUL FRIENDSHIP._"

"I understand your frustration," she told him, trying to find her way around the dimly-lit mushroom maze. "You and Undyne...sound like you're pretty close, you know? Even if she is trying to murder me."

"_OH, YES! WE'VE BEEN THE BEST OF FRIENDS FOR QUITE SOME TIME! SHE'S EVEN THE ONE WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI! AND OTHER TIMES, SHE TRIED TO SLAY MY OTHER BEST FRIENDS WITH HER SPEARS. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. BUT I AM WILLING TO SEE PAST HER FAULTS! IF I DIDN'T WE WOULDN'T BE SO CLOSE._"

"So...You're really fond of her, huh?"

"_WHY WOULDN'T I BE? WE ARE THE BEST OF FRIENDS, AFTER ALL._"

"Hm...Heh heh heh..."

"_HUMAN...? WHAT'S WITH THE SLY CHUCKLE?_"

"Oh, nothing. Just had a thought. Hey, I see the dirt path up ahead. Talk to you later. In fact, I might just go into Temmie Village myself now. She probably doesn't think I went in there right away...because she doesn't think anyone would want to, probably."

"_AFFIRMATIVE, HUMAN! OH, AND BY THE WAY, I TOOK THOSE ITEMS OF GERSON'S HANDS. HE SEEMED QUITE PLEASED TO SEE THEM GOING TO SOMEONE LIKE MYSELF._"

"Great. He said something to me about wanting them to be placed in good hands, and you seemed like the perfect candidate."

"_THESE ARE...F-FOR ME? WOWIE! YOU REALLY DO CARE, HUMAN!_"

"You're welcome. Hey, gotta go."

"_FAREWELL, HUMAN! AND GOOD LUCK!_"

Most of the Temmies were just doing their thing; one was sitting, staring at an egg, another was doodling on a piece of paper, two others were chasing each other, the list went on. Ginger thought it might be clever to hide in the large crevice in the wall to the far east; it was a little small for her, but it would subvert Captain Undyne's expectations, that was for sure, and maybe she could dig further into it and hide herself even further into the dirt.

Unfortunatrly, the crevice was already being occupied by another Temmie.

"What're you doing in there, huh, fella?"

"**sHHh...**" it hushed. "**feeling ov being wached.**"

"Hiding?"

It nodded.

"Good spot."

If she couldn't hide there, maybe the empty Tem Shop would serve such a purpose. Maybe Temmie's abandoned cardboard-

"**hOI, humANN!**"

"Temmie!?"

It was the same one that had supposedly left for college not too long ago, the only difference in her from then and now being the little black graduation cap she now proudly wore atop her silver-haired head.

"Y-you...How did you finish college in fifteen minutes flat?!"

"**iT dOESENT MATTR! tEM DID IT! tEM go 2 cool leg and learn MANY THINs! tEM evn got degree in TEM STUDIES! ****tEM can tell u all about tem's DEEP HISTORY! eVEN learn how 2 makE an sel new ITEM! tEM will...rULE da BANKIN WORULD!**"

"So, you're going to be a professional business-Tem?"

"**yayA! look at new iTEMS! 2 sel!**"

She displayed a new price sheet. It was exactly the same as the last one, except for the one new item listed on the bottom.

"**Temmie Armor-9999G**"

Ginger's eyes widened. That one expensive item. Temmie caught wind of her inner thoughts through her expression.

"**yOU wan da temy ARMOR! nO?**" she realized. "**temy ARMOR gOODS! it mak any batle a EASY VICTORIS!**"

"Maybe, but...Man. There's no way I could afford that. Even with a donation box of my own."

"**dONT worry! u pay 4 tem colleg! I give u tem armor FREE OV CHARG!**"

"Wh-...R-really?"

"**u don so much 4 tem! tEM mak u tEMMIE ARMOR as thank! bESIDE! u sMOL fur a fiter! wONT be a CHALENGE!**"

She pulled out a tape measurer from her box and motioned for the human to stand up straight. The tiny cat-dog began taking measurements; her full height, her leg width, the waist, the shoulders. Ginger ended up having to sit down for some of them, as the monster couldn't reach that high.

"**hNNNNNN dONE! i go 2 da gARBAGE dUMP to lok for good METULLZ! mETULLZ 4 da tEMY ARMORR! nex time u come, shud have armor redy!**"

"How much metal is at the dump?"

"**lOTTA scrap mEtullz! lOTA other stuf too! gud 4 sCAVENGING!**"

"Temmie, I don't know how I ever got along without you fellas," she thanked her, scooping up the tiny college graduate in her arms.

"**uWAAH! finish cool leg? bECOM profeshunal salestem? aND hOOmin hugz!? dis day...cannot gett any bettr!**"

Ginger put her back down, and she scurried off to the dump. She went back into the main village. One of the Temmies was scratching behind one of its dog ears just outside the shop entrance, and it paused to look up at her.

"Hey, kid."

"Oh. Hey, Bob."

...Wait...

And that was when she had an idea.

"Hey...Bob?"

"Hm?" he acknowledged, finishing scratching his ear.

"You mind helping me out with something?"

"Sure, sure. What's on your mind?"

"Brace yourself. This is a long story."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...You sure this's gonna work, Ginger?"

"One can hope. Besides, if she won't go in there herself, we have to MAKE it happen somehow."

"My only hope is that she doesn't destroy the village in a fit of rage."

"Ah, ha. I, uh...Well...She IS the Captain of the Royal Guard, right? Wouldn't she get into trouble for that?"

"...You do have a point. As ruthless as she is, she does have to maintain SOME form of professionalism to keep her job, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Exactly. The scent you picked up getting stronger?"

Bob sniffed at the ground; Undyne's unmistakable scent trail was leading down the trail. And it was getting stronger.

"Stop...I think she's at her house."

"She has a house here in Waterfall?"

"You go hide. I'll do the talking, and the you can ring up your skeleton buddy."

"Where do you think'd be a good place?"

"Try Blook Acres. It's just up north the middle road; two houses, leaning apart from each other. Can't miss 'em."

"Wait. Blook...Blook, as in...Napstablook?"

"Know him, do ya? Kinda keeps to himself, but he's a nice enough fella, I suppose. Oh, I think I heard her door open. Go, go, go!"

Ginger didn't hesitate; she sprinted up the middle path, and there were the two houses. One rainy grey and the other sort of pinkish brown. She tried the grey one first and stepped inside. The inside of the small house was a little rundown; cracks in the walls, chipped wood flooring, a few cobwebs here and there...

A familiar-looking ghost doing something at his computer in the far corner.

"...Napstablook?"

He turned to face her.

"...oh...you came...sorry, I...wasn't expecting that. It's fine though...I don't have much, but...make yourself at home."

"What, ah...Whatcha doin' there, Napstablook?" she inquired, trying to peer over his..."shoulder" at his computer screen.

"...oh...it's nothing...just...working on a mixtape, is all..."

"Mixtape?"

"You know...for making...songs, and stuff like that...not much else."

"So, you're like, a composer?"

"...not exactly...that sounds a lot more sophisticated than what I do...I just make little tunes and...share them on the music forums...they don't get too much attention..."

"Mind if I have a listen?"

"...really? Oh...sure...let me get it for you..."

He booted up one of his CDs, and a waving, somewhat eerie, yet also oddly catchy tune filled the house.

"...oh...this is one of my favorites...the ambiance...spooky, isn't it?"

"Yeah...You made that?"

"...it's a remix...I didn't make up the tune."

"That reminds me...Have you ever seen that statue that plays the music box not too far from here?"

"Oh...that's been there a long time...it stopped playing music one day, though."

"Well, if you're interested, it's uh...started up again. Might give you some more inspiration for your spook tunes."

"...heh..."

There was a knock at the door.

"...come in..." the ghost moaned in that quiet voice of his.

The door opened, revealing a small white cat-dog with a blue shirt and black head of hair.

"Done and done. She just went into the maze. You're in the clear."

"Awesome! Hold on, guys, I gotta make a call."

And she rang the skeleton.

"Papyrus."

_"IS IT TIME, HUMAN?_"

"The time has come."

_"ALRIGHT! I'M ON IT!"_

And before one could say "Nyeh heh heh!", he was gone.

"Thanks for the help, Bob! And, Napstablook. Thanks for havin' me over. Keep working on those mixtapes."

"...okay...bye..."

She followed the Temmie outside."

"So, where are you gonna go off to? I'm headin' back to the village. Wanna come with?"

"**bAHB!**"

Ginger turned west to face the source of the noise. It was the Tem Shop Keeper, carrying a load of metal on her back towards her home village.

"Oh, hey, Temmie," he greeted. "You workin' on your Temmie Armor?"

"**tEM work hardd 4 hoomin! sHE do...gud THINs fur tem! hUMANN! bOI!**"

And she was off.

"You know, you might consider paying a visit to the Trash Zone yourself. If you find yourself in combat with Undyne, it'd be good to have a few tricks up your sleeve...And by tricks, I mean defensive tools."

"I know. I've been there once before, but I never got the chance to browse much. Maybe I'll do that, now that I have the chance."

"Hey, and by the time you're done doin' that, Temmie might just have that armor ready for you. Catch you later, kid. Oh, and if you're going to the Trash Zone, be careful not to fall into the abyss. They say it's bottomless, and I don't wanna be the one to find out the truth for myself...and neither do you."

"Eesh...I'll keep that in mind, Bob."

"Okay. See you on the flip side."

And Bob trotted off in the direction of his Temmie kindred. It dawned on Ginger that her Tough Glove...was probably not going to be good at punching through Undyne's sturdy metal armor. She'd have to make some other sort of weapon. A sharp one. And what better place to gather resources than the dump? Yes...This was what she'd do.

All of the plotting, all of the chases, all of the confrontations. Eventually, there would be a battle. Sooner more than later, most likely.

But all the while, she remained determined.

* * *

**A/N: OI! This was longer than I'd hoped it'd be. But I didn't want to leave too much out. A LOT just happened in such a short time period, and it's uh...kinda hard to squeeze all of that into ~6,500 words...So it's, like...more like an extra 23%. Not including these notes, heh...**

**And Fun Fact: Doge Polemuttis is sort of an O.C. He's the former Captain of the Royal Guard I made up. He was a Shiba Inu monster...of course. Founded the Canine Unit for Snowdin. Killed by the human of Justice...who also might have done something to the incumbent...yeah, never mind, I don't wanna spoil my own story too much.**

**The next chapter is gonna be sort of interesting.(maybe sorta fluffy. I actually have it written already, lol) I won't spoil too much, but in a nutshell, we'll finally encounter a character that has yet to make a physical appearance in the story, although he/she won't actually BE particularly significant until a bit later...Take a guess who, why don'tcha?**

**Anyway, thanks again for reading! Remember to R&R! :D**


	16. Chapter 14: Adaptability

Papyrus and Bob had been right about the garbage sump; besides the vast amount of scrap metal lying around, it had some other useful things to offer, ranging from intact objects to unopened, packaged food. She had to rummage a bit amongst the obvious garbage to find some of it, but it was worth the dig, and it was worth the smell.

Working with metal wouldn't be that hard, right? She'd spent a few hours of her time watching Gwyndor work in his hollow, and the commentary he gave as he whipped up sets of battleclaws from the embers made it sound easy enough. Maybe she make her own set of battleclaws, with five fingers, for human hands. She liked that thought...

But then she remembered the spears Undyne used. She threw those spears, she didn't just swing them around like a sword. Against something that, the use of melee weapons would put her at a stark disadvantage. And the trump card that was flight, which would otherwise give battleclaws a more decent perk, had long since left her side, along with the impressive speed and agility that came with it. So what else could she make for herself...?

As she continued to meander around the dump, lost in her thoughts, she felt her foot kick something. She picked it up; it turned out to be a long, thin piece of plastic PVC pipe, and the length made it wobble somewhat in her grasp. It was quite flexible, just like...

_...A bow. _she thought.

She wished she'd have thought of it sooner; a bow would be perfect! It was long range, light weight, convenient, and on top of everything, adaptable. Besides combat, she could use it for signaling, or hunting. Yes, hunting! As much as she had access to the food made by the monsters themselves, her predatory instincts refused to be quenched. Besides, the food, being made more of magic than of physical properties, didn't fill her up; it just healed her wounds and tasted good. There were several rodents and other small animals inhabiting the Underground, so if she could get some red meat into her system before she faced off against the Head of the Royal Guard, that'd be great. Now all she had to do was find herself some things to make arrows out of, and maybe a quiver if she were lucky enough to find some intact fabric, preferably something like burlap, to attach to her messenger bag somewhere. She remembered one time she and Uklah had found some washed up on black-sanded shore of the Beaks, and they had decided to make use of it.

Ginger sighed, looking down at the flowing water at her feet. She followed the flow to the familiar, mysterious abyss, where the water dropped lazily into the darkness below.

The human approached the dip and sat down on the wooden platform sticking just out of the calm water, not very far from the edge, and stayed there, staring at the crystal clear water as it cascaded into the depths of the earth, even though her weak human eyes could barely see it. Every so often, she would catch sight of a small splash of it up against a smooth river stone in the shallows, and the little burst of white foam was just ever so slightly more visible than the rest of the flow. It was mesmerizing; she almost wanted to sit here forever, lost in her thoughts, letting the water wash away all of her worries. She slipped her cloak off; Waterfall wasn't that cold, and Undyne wasn't around, so she thought she'd give it another break. And she rested her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees, and she wondered what her friends on the surface would think of this place.

And as she sat, she began to dig up some of the memories she'd buried her mind like the treasures they were.

The day she and Uklah had found the burlap sack washed up on the shore was not very pleasant up until that point; her friend had gone off by herself, and when she had not returned by the time dawn drew near, Ginger had offered to look for her. In a stroke of luck, she had found her in the first place she'd searched; by the shore, and she'd never looked more miserable. The conversation that followed played in Ginger's head like a broken record.

"_Something's the matter, Uklah; you look like you've just seen into the future and witnessed your own death, and that's not you._"

"_It's nothing, Ging'. Really, it isn't._"

"_Don't tell me it isn't. You're one of the most happy-go-lucky owls I've ever met in my life. Something's up and I want to know what it is._"

"_Do you have to be nary about it?_"

"_My nares belong here, and so do my earslits._"

"_Not if I say they don't._"

"_Well I say they do; and who outranks who?_"

"_What are you, a poet?_"

Despite the clever comeback, that was when Uklah had given up. She explained to Ginger that she had recently developed a sort of depression over the fact that she had no living relatives, despite having known several. Her parents and aunt had all disappeared when she was very young, her sister died of Alba Pox shortly before hand, and there were no other owls in her life that she saw as direct parental figures to fill in the gap.

"_I've...only really been starting to feel this way recently, even if it's been so long. I started thinking about it recently, and I've been wondering what...what they might think if they knew where I stood today._"

"_Huh...I don't think I ever would have guessed. You don't talk about them that often._"

"_I don't really think about them much, either. I...almost feel guilty putting them in the back of my head so often. I...I..._"

"_Uklah?_"

"_Ging...I don't even remember what my mother looked like anymore._"

She had seen a desparate, strong sadness in Uklah's sea-green eyes that she had never fathomed seeing.

"_Sometimes...I feel like I don't belong here; like I shouldn't have lived a life this long. Or that something will get me one of these days like it did everyone else. Like...like I don't really deserve to be here, like I'm not good enough-_"

"_Uklah, you stop that crazy talk right now and listen closely. You're one of the most amazing owls I've ever met. You're smart, you're hospitable, you're there for birds; I don't think the Tytonic Union would be the same without you. You live to please, Uklah. And that's not only good for everybody else, but you enjoy it, so it makes you happy. And don't you let anyone, not even yourself, tell you otherwise, because they'd be wrong._"

"_Ginger, I...You don't really mean all that do you?_"

At that point, all of Uklah's sorrow had turned to surprise.

"_Would I lie to you about something like this?_"

"_N-no...you wouldn't._"

"_Then pull yourself together and keep being happy. Not just for us, but for yourself; you're the one that needs it most._"

"_It's not that simple, Ginger..._"

An awkward silence had followed, and Ginger remembered exactly how she broke the tension.

"_Say...What's that floating out there on the seafoam?_"

That was when she spotted the burlap sack just barely clinging to the shore, the water was so shallow. After the two had flown over, examined and identified it, Ginger had brought up several suggestions for its potential use to help Uklah forget her woes, and to her delight, it had worked. The two of them went on and on about the endless possibilities it held, and some of their ideas, such as the branch holder and igniter, seemed so good that they decided to share some of their ideas with Gwyndor to see what he would think of them. At that point, Ginger was already leading her fellow soldier home, back to the base. As much as she knew she had done her part well, she had to admit; it was still fun. And she didn't even know that Uklah had realized what she'd done until they were almost there.

"_Hey, Ging'..._"

"_What's up?_"

"_Thanks for what you did back there._"

Ginger had only responded with a reassuring nod, and nothing of the sort had happened since then; she was glad that she'd been able to help. But as much as her plan had worked out, she sometimes wondered what would have happened if she'd handled it differently; Uklah was easy to deal with, her spirits light and liftable, but not all people were like this.

The young Pure One was somewhat aloof, having developed the mindset that displaying limited emotion would make her appear more powerful, and therefore, more qualified for her position of authority among the other young Tytos. It worked quite well, and the longer she'd maintained this mentality, the more it started to work its way inside. She went from hiding her emotions to actually having less; something she was proud of. When the worst came around, she would expect it ahead of time and move on, and when things looked up, she was easily able to keep her composure.

But when she fell into the Underground, that frame of mind began to waver. It started with Toriel; her devoted kindness had struck a chord with her. The caprine monster barely knew Ginger, yet she had treated her like her own daughter from the very beginning. And then the skeleton brothers, who, despite their oddities, were genuinely good souls. Their kindly natures were trying to rub off on Ginger, and to be entirely honest, she wasn't sure whether or not she liked it. Her mind and heart were comfortably and collectively cool and hardy, but she could feel them beginning to warm and soften...It was an odd, fuzzy feeling, like being embraced in the wings of her mother...a feeling she had_ very_ mixed opinions of. Yes, tenderness did have its strengths...but it would also mean giving up the ones she'd already mastered.

Another series of splashes interrupted Ginger's thoughts, somewhat louder, and even slightly more rhythmic than most of them had been. Almost like...footsteps?

No, that wasn't very likely...was it? Perhaps a fish was flailing in the shallows, searching for deeper waters, but she wouldn't know; all she could see was darkness and the falls it shrouded. It didn't matter, anyway.

What did matter was that she find her way back to the surface. And despite her initial **DETERMINATION,** she was beginning to have doubts that she would ever see any of her Tytonic brethren again. She'd been stuck in the Underground for over twelve whole hours now, and with the imposing threats of not only Captain Undyne, but also the king himself, she didn't see herself leaving anytime soon. And the Pure Ones had business to tend to back on the island; they were supposed to leave today, in fact. Odds were, with the A.F.F. still being comparatively close by, they'd be departing soon, so she'd be too late to join them. She was just one more mouth to feed compared to the hundreds and hundreds of other just-as-capable warriors.

She let out a despondent sigh...then paused.

She could have sworn she heard_ two._

She shook her head, figuring that she was only hearing things in her loneliness.

_Now I'm delusional...What's this place doing to me?_

She didn't have much to look forward to; she'd have to face the Royal Guard head in battle soon enough, then take on Asgore some time afterward if she won, and even if and when she did get out of the mountain, what would she do then? If she was doomed to be a human for the rest of her life, she couldn't go back to the Tytonic Union like this; they would never believe it was her if she tried to tell them it was her. And even if they did, how would he function as a Pure One? She had no claws, no wings, nothing. And as a human, she required different essentials from owls, so readapting to her former way of life was near impossible.

And THEN there was the matter of getting across the ocean back to the Owl Kingdoms in the first place. She couldn't just go there herself with her own boat at such a distance, and she couldn't just book a cruise ship to the hidden island, or get help from other animals like whales or dolphins; why would some they help a human who claimed to know they could speak over the Pacific Ocean? She figured she might as well just sit here until some other monster came along to put her out of her misery, or even cast herself into the abyss now to save herself from anymore suffering. It was hopeless...

_...No._

It wasn't completely hopeless; as long as she had her **DETERMINATION,** she could accomplish anything. She'd survived her fall into the mountain, befriended nearly every monster in the Ruins, gotten past Papyrus' puzzles, and was now even close friends with him and Sans.

As well as so many other monsters living down here.

To top everything off, they seemed to have some sort of good faith in her; especially the tall skeleton, who had said it himself that getting out of the mountain would be a cinch. She wasn't sure how true this was, but she did know one thing; she wasn't going to live the rest of her life down here in apathy; she was either going to get out of this place or die trying...And even if she did die trying, she could always Load and start from her last Save Point. Yes...She had a chance. She had a good chance.

And she was filled with **DETERMINATION.**

Eager as ever to complete her quest for freedom, Ginger grabbed hold of her cloak and pipe, stood straight up, bolted into a sprint for a hasty retreat...

And ran right into something!

"_Augh!_"

There was a yelp, and collision send Ginger falling nearly face first into the shallows, too shocked to emit any noise herself, and another splash followed a moment afterward. She wasn't sure exactly what she'd run into, but she did realize one thing.

The "something" had screamed.

It wasn't a something; it was a some-ONE.

The human scowled as she lifted herself back up, ready to confront whoever had tried to sneak up on her. But the mysterious being opened its mouth before she could.

"Oh, no...Where'd they go!? Oh, no no no no no! Don't tell me they fell down there!"

The voice, high-pitched, nasally, and quite obviously feminine, sounded like it was fumbling through the shallows in search of something; though, what it was, Ginger wasn't sure of, and she shifted her feet, backing away from the barely visible silhouette to give it some space.

And when she moved, she could feel something being pushed up against the bottom of her leg by the flowing water.

She reached her hand into the water and successfully fished out whatever the object was, running her fingers along it in hopes of identifying it. Perhaps this was what the stranger had lost?

It didn't take long to recognize the shape of the item, which turned out to be pair of spectacles. Ginger did note that they seemed unusually large.

"Oh, great," the stranger whined, still trying to locate the missing eyewear. "But...it probably doesn't matter anyway..."

She didn't seem to acknowledge Ginger's presence; perhaps the creature didn't know she was there any more than the human had with her, and she had second thoughts about dragging her over the coals for the failed ambush that was never planned.

"Uh...miss?"

The unidentified monster let out an "eep" of surprise when she spoke.

"I-is someone there?"

"That'd be me."

"Oh my gosh! I-but-th-that was-y-you're a person! Oh, my, I, uh-I mean, I-I'm so sorry! I didn't think that was a person, I-I thought it was a piece of trash! I mean-no! I d-didn't mean that! I mean, like, you're not-I mean, that's what I am, but-I didn't know-"

"Hey."

All Ginger had to do was say the one word, and the stranger's apologetic rambling came to a halt.

"Y-yes?"

"Are these yours?"

She approached the silhouette and held the glasses out in her hand, stooping down ever so slightly to match her inferior height, and the human just barely made out the dark image of another one coming to meet her halfway and take them.

"Oh, yes. Yes, they are. Um...th-thank you...for that."

"Not a problem."

"And I'm-I'm sorry for the trouble."

"Don't be. _I'm_ the one who decided to run out of the dump like it was going to collapse, not you. You were just sitting around minding your own business, probably."

"Heh heh...heh...So...um...Wh-what are you doin' here?"

"I just thought I'd take a peek, see if I could find anything useful that came in from the surface. And now I'm sittin' here, just thinkin' about stuff. You?"

"Me? Oh, um, well...S-same. Y-you never know what you might find."

"I know. Just today I found something that could probably help make my life turn around for the better."

"R-really? Wow, uh...good for you!"

"I know, right?"

"Yeah. But I didn't do m-much rummaging today. I-I thought I'd just, you know...sit down f-for a bit and...listen to the water flow."

"Say, how long do you think we were just hanging around here, completely oblivious to each other?"

"Oh, gosh, I-I don't know. I've only been here for a few minutes. You?"

"Not much longer. But I thought I heard what sounded like someone else a couple of times; I thought it was just my imagination until...well, you know."

"Heh, yeah...But, hey, look at us now! W-we're like...talkin' to each other, a-and stuff, whadaya know? Hee hee..."

"So, let me ask you something; they say that this abyss here is just a bottomless pit, right?"

"Y-yeah? Some people do."

"What do you think's really down at the bottom? Anything besides what they say?"

"Oh, wow, I...I-I'm gettin' a strong sense of déjà vu here, you know? Th-this isn't the f-f-first time someone's c-come along and asked me something like that."

"Really?"

"Y-yeah...Anyways, a-about your question. I have speculated th-the possibilities before, and I-I-I have a c-couple of theories I've come up with."

"Lay 'em on me; I'm curious."

She sat back down on the wooden platform, the stranger doing the same a couple of feet away from her.

"Really? Um, well...Okay, I-if you want...um...Well...Th-the first is that it actually leads to some sort of looping portal o-or wormhole that's been constructed by magic, and that's what gives the abyss its bottomless illusion. It leads to a-another point in the abyss, so everything th-that falls in is s-stuck in an endless loop, sort of. It's origins are still shrouded in mystery, though. If it...even exists."

"Dang...That's pretty complex."

"D-do I need to dumb it down for you?-No! I MEAN-I'm sorry! Oh my G-...I-I didn't mean it that way! I just wanted to make sure I was-I'm not calling you dumb! I'm the dumb one! I mean-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I understand what you said."

"B-but I didn't mean to call-"

"It's fine. I know you didn't mean it that way."

Ginger had never met someone who stuttered quite so much in her life, but at the same time, she took pity on the mysterious monster for her apparent nervousness. And it was strange, but...

Hadn't she heard her voice somewhere before? She felt like she should know, but it was just out of reach.

"Got a second one?"

"Huh? Oh, right. My hypotheses. Yes, I-I do. These theories aren't really b-backed by any hard evidence, so, they're, uh, not...technically theories."

"The scientific method?"

"Yeah, that's right! Y-you know about that?"

"I've read about it before. Friend of mine introduced it to me."

"Oh, wow. Cool! Um, but, regarding what I was saying...My second thesis is that it leads to an alternate dimension; a separate reality, o-or timeline from ours. But nobody really knows what it could be like; things could be c-completely different from here, or they could be...almost, i-if not exactly the same."

Ginger whistled in awe.

"Wow. Do you really think it leads to a parallel dimension?"

"Th-there's really no telling. Honestly, it p-probably just ends somewhere like the base of any other waterfall. But i-it's always fun to think about things like that, isn't it?"

"Yeah...it is..."

"...Do...do you ever wonder what it'd be like? A-an alternate universe? Even the slightest anomaly between the two parallels could make what happens in each of them e-en-entirely different from one another."

"How so?"

"Like, say, just for an example, i-in an alternate reality, you...don't exist?"

As lightly as she'd put it, Ginger could sense the desolation embedded deep within her voice. It was...unnerving.

"It's weird thinking about...wondering what it'd be like if you were never born, huh?"

It didn't seem like the anonymous monster was directing her speech to her anymore, rather herself.

"A world where you never existed...or y-your actions, or your mistakes, or anything. Yet the world still goes on, regardless...Sometimes you wonder; what would it be like if I weren't here? Sometimes, you want to find out for yourself, and...and just..."

It was as though the stranger had temporarily forgotten that there was someone there with her that she was supposed to be talking to.

"S-sorry. I'm taking up too much of your time, aren't I?"

A deep sense of dread came over the human when she figured out what the monster was insinuating. And the fact that they were sitting right in front of the abyss she had been speaking of only made it more obvious.

"...Miss, are...are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I-I'm fine. Just, you know...got a lot on my mind, right now, and...it's k-kinda hard to go on and..."

"You weren't planning on doing something stupid, were you?" she asked firmly.

An eerie silence shrouded the atmosphere.

"..._Were_ you?"

Nothing. She heard no response whatsoever. For a moment, Ginger feared that her remark may have actually made her...go away. But when she looked to her side, she could still just barely see the monster's dark figure, though it seemed a bit more...hunched over.

"I...don't know what's going on with you," the human said to her, hoping she would listen. "But I want to tell you something. A long time ago, one of my friends was going through a rough period; she'd lost most of her family by the time she was five, but when she came to us, her entire life changed for the better. She was one of the happiest ow-...people I've ever known. But one day, she started acting funny. When I came and asked her about it, she said that she felt...in a nutshell, like she wasn't supposed to be alive, since everyone else in her family was gone; like she didn't deserve what was being given to her, and that she wasn't good enough."

The monster turned its vaguely-shaped head slightly in her direction. Ginger's vision had since become slightly more adjusted to the lack of light, and she could make out her eyes; the stranger had brown eyes, very large and very intelligent, further accented by the spectacles she wore and the prominent whites, which gave them an almost bird-like appearance. But they displayed a sadness deeper than any she'd ever seen, even more so than what Uklah had shown that day.

"So I spoke to her about it," she continued. "and I remember telling her all of the things she was capable of; and I knew she was capable of them because I'd seen her do it. I reminded her of who she was that day, and how important she was to everyone, no matter how hard it might have been for her to believe it. She told me it wasn't that simple, but...it is, really. All you need to do is look around and, you know...acknowledge the good things in life. Like, friends to fall back on; that was what mine had that day."

She heard the monster let out another, shaky sigh.

"You...you do have friends, miss...don't you?"

No response.

"...At least one good one?"

It took a few moments, but this time, the human did get an answer.

"I...th-there are a few people I-I've gotten to know, but...I-I've made s-so many mistakes...If they ever f-found out the t-truth about me, th-they would...they would..."

The stranger's voice was growing higher, and was breaking, and Ginger could see the tears welling up in her brown eyes, and the tiny amount of light in the dark place just barely made it light enough to see them fall down her face before she buried it in her hands.

"Listen to me; I don't know who you are or what you're going through, but if I did...I don't think what I would have said would have been any different than what you've heard from me so far."

The monster sniffled, but made no indication that she heard her. The human could hear her uneasy breathing; it was deliberately quiet, as though she didn't want her to know she was crying. But the strategy didn't work on the human; her ears weren't as good as they once were, but they were still trained to detect fainter noises, and for a human, they were above average.

Though Ginger didn't realize that she had inched closer to the creature until she found herself resting a hand on what was certainly a shoulder. A small part of her said that the situation was getting awkward, and that she should let the monster be, but a far larger one feared what might happen if she left, and it told the human that she was indeed doing the right thing.

"It's...it's gonna be okay," she soothed, her voice as reassuring as she could manage; she was no Toriel, but she didn't think it came out half bad. "I know we don't know each other very well, but if there's anything I can do, just say so."

As soon as Ginger had finished, the monster let out a suppressed sob, burying her head deeper into her hands. The human backed away in slight surprise, which quickly softened into sympathy. What terrible things had this poor creature gone through that made her so upset? She could only imagine.

_What do I do...?_

One thing was for sure, though; she couldn't solve this problem the same way she had with Uklah. She was in far worse shape than what her Barn Owl friend had been that day, so straight-talking her problems into oblivion didn't appear to be the solution to the problem. She didn't even knw what those problems were. And furthermore, Uklah was a close friend, and this was a complete stranger...

...But she had been a stranger once, too.

And it hadn't mattered to Toriel. The doting Boss Monster had done everything she could to help her out from the very beginning, despite having barely known her; her concerns, her tutoring...her tenderness.

Ginger never thought she'd admit it, but she had begun to miss Toriel's warm, protective embrace. She'd only felt it twice, and neither were welcome at the time, but now, with the impending danger of having to face off against the captain, she felt as though she needed it more than ever.

Her thoughts were cut off by another, louder sob. The human sighed, half of pity and half of embarrassment; she knew what she had to do.

_I hope nobody sees this..._

She moved closer to the creature again and put an arm around her, resting her hand on her far shoulder. She felt her tremble, and she caressed what felt like an arm; it was covered in some sort of smooth fabric, probably cotton or linen, and the sleeve was far longer than her own.

The monster curled herself into somewhat of a ball and sniveled, and the young human pulled her closer, practically squeezing her up against her side.

"I...I-I-I'm sc-scared..." she stammered, burying her face into the human's shoulder and making the sleeve wet with tears.

"You're going to be okay."

"I-I'm a failure."

"You're worth just as much as everyone else."

"N-n-nobody l-likes me..."

"...What if I told you I did?"

The monster's blubbering seemed to slow, and she looked up at the human in disbelief.

"W-wh-what? B-but, I...I mean-"

She was cut off by a series of her own shaky sniffles.

"You...you don't even know me."

"Mind if I tell you something else?"

The troubled stranger rested her head against the young human.

"N-no...go ahead."

"Not such a long time ago, I got myself lost, and it wasn't long before I found myself in a pinch. But someone came to help me. I didn't know her, and she didn't know me, but you know something?"

"What?"

"The very first thing she did was try to help me out. For all she knew, I could have been dangerous, but she still took me in. Wanna know why?"

"W-why?"

"Because she loved me. Right from the beginning; right when she first laid eyes on me. She wanted what was best for me, and for me to be safe. And she did all sorts of other things for me when I was with her, too, and...I honestly regret not doing anything to pay her back for it before I left."

"Hm..." the creature acknowledged, wiping another tear away.

"I guess she rubbed off on me some. I'd always been sort of distant until she came along; even she acknowledged that, which is why she taught me what she did about...stuff like compassion and kindness and...and **MERCY**. But you know something else?"

"What?"

"I feel like if she saw me now...she'd be proud. She'd know that I was doing what she'd done for me for other people. And not just you, but...it seems like you really needed it more than anyone, so I'm glad I showed up when I did."

The monster looked down, her brown eyes expressing deep thought. But they were still shedding tears. Ginger pulled the Manly Bandanna out of her pocket, straightened it out and put it in the stranger's hand as she brought it up to her face again.

She didn't think she'd ever use it for anything, but now was the time.

"Huh?...Wh-what's this?"

"To wipe your eyes with."

"Oh..."

The stranger dried her eyes and face, then tried to give it back.

"No, no, you go ahead and keep it."

"O-okay..."

She sniffled again, then blew her nose; it was a good thing Ginger hadn't cared much for the bandanna, because now she _certainly_ wouldn't have wanted it back.

"Thank you," she replied, her voice weak. The human continued to rub her hand up and down her arm.

"Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah...I do feel a lot better. Heh heh...heh...Sorry about all that. Sometimes, th-things just really get to me."

"Don't worry about it; I'm just glad I could help you out."

"That...that was awfully nice of you."

The monster let out a deep sigh, finally having calmed down all the way.

"You know...I-I don't think I can really...t-tell anybody the things I've done, I'm th-that bad a screwup. B-but you...really helped me out right now. You actually m-made me feel like I might still b-be able to fix things. I-I guess I should thank you for ramming into me when you did, because I don't think I've e-ever g-gotten this close to...Y-you might not have realized it, b-but you probably just..."

"Saved a life?"

"Yes...I'm sorry if I made you worry...This isn't the first time somebody's c-come along a-a-and stopped me from...It made me think; e-even if a complete stranger r-really cares that much about s-someone like me, then...ma-maybe I can find the courage to keep going."

"If you ever feel like that again, just remember; there are people out there that really care about you, alright?"

"...Okay. I'll remember."

"Atta girl."

Ginger gave the monster a firm pat on the back before standing up off the platform.

"I better head on out, now; gotta put the stuff I found to use and I'm runnin' short on time."

"O-oh. Yeah. I better be heading home myself here soon. Th-thanks for the pep talk. And...um...a-a-and the hug."

"Heh heh...Not a problem."

"So, uh...W-what's your name, huh?"

Ginger was silent for a few moments; this monster was completely oblivious to the fact that she was the human everyone was after, but if by any chance she had heard her name...what would she do if she knew? She didn't want to fight against a monster in a place as dark at this, and especially so close to the abyss.

"I, uh...I think it's best you don't know. You might not know it, but I've been a little on-edge myself lately. Erm..."

She looked down the waterfall again.

"...No pun intended. I just don't want to make it awkward."

"Oh, that's okay. M-maybe it's better you don't know mine, either. Y-you...might know who I am, and...you...you might be one of...one of them, and...I-I'm not-"

"Eh, no big deal. But I gotta go, alright?"

"Okay. I'll, uh...see you around, I guess. Um...I-I think I'll stay here for just a few more minutes; it's nice and quiet."

"You gonna be okay by yourself?"

"Y-yeah. Don't worry, I'm not...thinking about that anymore."

"Alright; good. Take care of yourself, bud."

"I will. Goodbye."

Now Ginger could make her way out of the trash zone, running back towards the light. Once she could see well enough again, she turned and looked back; the silhouette of the monster was still there, though it wasn't quite as hunched over as it'd been before.

She had a feeling she knew why the monster had stayed behind; she probably didn't want to end up running into her again in the light, seeming concerned that she was speaking to someone she might have known, and she was giving Ginger time to leave to prevent this.

Perhaps, though, she could find a few more things to craft with before she left, as long as she was quick about it.

She headed back to the first few piles of junk she'd rummaged through in search of some more reusable items, picking up a few more bits of metal and several stray, white feathers floating around in the water, some of which were stained with what looked like tiny droplets of blood; perhaps a human had skinned a hapless chicken for its dinner, and had thrown away what it couldn't eat.

_Makes my job easier, at least._

And when she scanned the piles for more items, a sealed bag of wooden craft sticks jutting out from the top of one of the piles made itself visible; perfect for the arrows she planned to make.

"Who would throw away something like this?" she remarked, somewhat in disbelief. "These are in perfect condition!"

As she dug her hand into the rubble to grab them, she pulled a few other items loose, and two of them ended up tumbling down the pile and landing on a break in the slope the trash formed, right in front of her eyes.

She grew curious about them, and she picked up and analyzed each one.

The first was a small, worn-looking plush toy, whose fleece coat had lost most of its softness with age. The brown and beige fabric joined together to form an odd mammalian creature, with long, pointed ears, stout legs, a tiny black nose, and a big, round tail that tapered to a beige point. It's eyes were embroidered and expressive, as was the small smile below its nose. Ginger wasn't sure if the stuffed animal looked more like a fox or a rabbit...or perhaps it was an odd cross between the two animals that some human had developed in their psyche? She didn't know, and she probably never would.

The second of the two was another unopened DVD case. It didn't look like anything she'd seen Papyrus display, and the design on the cover was much more basic, and actually a lot more scary-looking than anything else of the like she'd seen thus far.

But it had bones on it, so maybe Papyrus would actually like this?

She continued looking over it. The metallic grey cover had what looked like a crocodile skull on a large, non-crocodile body of some sort, lashing out at some imaginary enemy with the unnaturally long, curved claws on its bony hands. The partial skeleton was enclosed inside a circular logo, and just below its arms was the movie title, spelled out in bold capital letters.

"**_JURASSIC__ PARK III_**"

The roman numerals making up the "3" looked more like slash marks than written text, and an ominous, almost falcon-shaped shadow spread diagonally across the box.

She...was actually somewhat inclined to watch this one, just to see what it was about; it seemed more her taste than "_Mettaton Soap Opera: Season 2._" She only had to see part of the one episode that was being broadcasted while she was in Snowdin to know she didn't like it. This, however, seemed more interesting than some mindless melodrama, and she thought it would help to re-temper her softening spirit; something she would need when she returned to the surface to her fellow Pure Ones.

Even so, in the mean time, it seemed like hardiness wasn't the best answer to the problem's she'd had to face so far. If she'd tried that with the strange monster she'd just spoken to, she might have...

She was afraid to think of what could have went wrong. All she knew was that she hadn't handled it in a rough manner, and it had gone fairly well. But she knew she couldn't hang on to tenderness forever; she would have to toughen up again at some point, and probably sooner than later.

Until then, she would just have to adapt.

* * *

**A/N: Two chapters in less than a day? Oi vey!**

**I'm willing to bet a lot of you figured out who that mystery monster was pretty quickly, huh? One thing's for sure, concerning what she looks like, the movie Ginger found in the dump was pretty coincidental, wouldn't you say?**

**Thanks for reading! This story's getting more and more fun to write! :D**


	17. Chapter 15: Respite

"She past the town yet?"

"OH, YES SHE IS!" the skeleton answered. "YOU KNOW, YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO COME BACK TO SNOWDIN FOR A WHILE AGAIN NOW IF YOU'D LIKE! WHEN SHE TURNS BACK THIS WAY, WE CAN PUT THAT SECRET FIREWOOD COMPARTMENT TO GOOD USE!"

"When do you think she'll start thinkin' the ambush is a lost cause?"

"I DON'T IMAGINE SHE'S GOING TO STAY THERE ALL DAY. SHE AND I STILL HAVE A COOKING LESSON TO PARTAKE IN!"

"Cooking lesson?"

"OH, ABSOLUTELY! EVERY WEEKDAY, WE MEET UP AT HER PLACE AND PUT OUR CULIARY SKILLS TO THE TEST! IT'S REALLY QUITE FUN; SOMETHING ALMOST ALWAYS CATCHES ON FIRE! BUT IT'S EVEN MORE FUN WHEN THINGS EXPLODE!"

"Holy moly..."

Ginger approached the Riverperson's ferry again, motioning to them that she was on the phone. The hooded figure nodded in understanding, then began to paddle westward against the flow.

"SO, HOW DID THINGS GO FOR YOU IN WATERFALL?"

"Not bad. The Tem Shop Keeper is making me a set of armor, so when I finish up at your place, I'll go back to see if it's done."

"ARMOR MADE BY A TEMMIE? THEY SEEM A BIT ON THE...CRAZY SIDE. HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL COME OUT?"

"Hey, if those things can head off to college, complete all of their courses, PASS them all and come back in fifteen minutes flat, then I don't have much doubt in their abilities."

"OH, MY. THOSE TEMMIES SURE ARE A THING OF MYSTERY, AREN'T THEY?"

"A lot of things down here are."

"Tra la la..." the Riverperson sang. "The Angel is coming..."

"Hey, Papyrus. Hold on just a sec'."

"WILL DO!"

"Uh...Riverperson. I just had a thought. What's up with that weird symbol with the winged circle hovering over a bunch o' triangles? I've been seeing it in a few different places, and it's makin' me curious."

"Ah...the Delta Rune...the symbol of our kingdom...We are the triangles...the Angel shall descend...Tra la la..."

_Why does this person always speak in riddles?_

At least this one was easy to piece together; the image was called the Delta Rune, and it was the symbol of the kingdom. The triangles represented the monsters trapped underground, and the winged circle was the Angel spoken of in the prophecy she'd read on the plaques, who would make the Underground go empty. A winged circle...

She used to have wings, didn't she? And she was the last **SOUL** needed to break through he Barrier. She hoped the Angel was someone else, because if it wasn't...

"We have arrived. Tra la la..."

She was back in Snowdin.

"I'm really gettin' around today, aren't I?" she commented as she got off the boat. "Do I owe you anything? This is my third trip today. Forth? I lost track, but it's been a few."

"Free of charge. Come again anytime..."

"Well...Alright, then."

She turned and made her way south again; she remembered the way back to the skeleton brothers' house. Sans was standing outside the door.

"been a while. you gettin' tired of running all over the place yet?"

"Yeah, but I gotta keep going back and forth if I know what's best for me. Undyne's at the Ruins waiting to catch me by surprise, right?"

"you've got a few hours to chill out. pap's cooking lesson isn't until this evening, and if she thinks you're gonna show up, she sure as heck won't leave to miss it. it's a lot smarter for her to let you come to her instead of vice-versa...at least, it would be if you didn't already know where she was at. she's pretty mad at the canine unit, though; i was in there, like, half an hour ago, and she came in screechin' at all of us for being lousy slackers. honestly, i don't know if the dogs were playin' dumb, or if you'd duped them all into thinkin' you were, like, another monster or somethin'. but they won't help her. so she's on her own with this."

"Well, that's good news. Found some cool things at the garbage dump. You know where your brother is? He might like to check 'em out."

"watchin' the news. he made some more spaghetti while you were gone...guess what?"

"It was actually edible this time?"

"no. that dog came back and ate it all, so ii never got the chance to try any."

"Well, let me tell you; I've seen MAJOR improvement. His last batch wasn't just edible, it was enjoyable."

"...really?"

He actually seemed somewhat shocked by this.

"I guess you'll have to find out for yourself next time," she told him. "Oh, by the way, your mailbox is crammed full."

Just as she said it, one of the letters sticking loosely out from the lid fell onto the snow. Ginger picked it up to give it to him; she noted that the envelope was taped shut with a red, circular sticker emblazoned with an uncentered cross mark. Strange...

"oh, well. guess i'll have to read this one."

"I guess so."

She went in. Papyrus was on the couch, his head rested on the backs of his folded hands. Mettaton was broadcasting more news on the screen.

"**_THIS JUST IN, THE TEM SHOP IS BUSIER THAN EVER! _****_LOCAL TEMMIES ARE ITCHING TO GET THEIR HANDS ON A SET OF TEMMIE ARMOR, _****_THE LATEST ADDITION TO THEIR LIST OF PRODUCTS! LET'S SEE WHAT THE SHOP KEEPER HAS TO SAY ABOUT THIS!_**"

"**_tEM gon b RICCH! tem finish cool leg and learn MANY THINs bout bizziness! tEM will ROOL DA BANKIN WORULD! fIRST set of tem ARMOR...ALMOSTT DON!_**"

She showed off an unfinished pile of metal and leather to the camera.

"**_OH, MY! THAT LOOKS FAR TOO BIG FOR ANY TEMMIE! MIGHT I ASK WHO COMMISSIONED THIS SET?_**"

"**_nU! SECRITT!_**"

"**_WANT TO KEEP US GUESSING, DARLING? I LOVE IT! MAKES THINGS THAT MUCH MORE INTERESTING! I IMAGINE, THOUGH, THAT WHOEVER IT IS MUST BE GETTING READY FOR HUGE FIGHT! THIS IS MTT NEWS! WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK AFTER THESE SCHEDULED COMMERCIALS!_**"

Papyrus muted the ads as they played, then turned around to notice the human standing there behind him.

"OH! YOU MADE IT!"

"...He knows, doesn't he?"

"IT CERTAINLY SEEMS THAT WAY. JUST KEEP YOURSELF ON YOUR TOES AND YOU SHOULD BE FINE! IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME?"

"It is. I came back to finish my business before the big fight. If you want, I can show off my dump collection to you; got some good ideas for the stuff I scavenged."

"OOH, SO YOU VISITED THE TRASH ZONE, DID YOU? THAT'S WHERE I FOUND ONE OF MY FAVORITE COOKBOOKS! IN FACT, I THINK I MAY HAVE SLIPPED IT INTO THE ONES I GAVE YOU IN THE SHED! THE BOOK WAS SOMEWHAT WATER DAMAGED, BUT THE AUTHOR SEEMS VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT COOKING, HENCE THE TITLE!"

"I don't know; he looks like the kind of guy that swears at everything to me, for some reason. Don't know why, but that's my impression of him."

"OH DEAR...WELL, WHAT HAVE YOU TO DISPLAY?"

"Shed. Follow me."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"QUITE RESOURCEFUL, HUMAN!"

"I might have to practice target-shooting a while; never used a bow before, but I know how they work. I'll have to find something to make a bowstring out of, though...and arrowheads. And an adhesive."

"FEAR NOT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL FURTHER SUPPLY YOUR NEEDS!"

"Dude, you don't have to do that. You've already-"

"NONSENSE! YOU'RE THE GUEST! I SHOULD BE CORDIAL, SHOULD I NOT?"

"Uh, well...If you say so."

"YOU'RE WELCOME IN ADVANCE!"

"Heh...Dummy's still here, huh?"

"HE'S BEEN THERE A WHILE...I WONDER IF HE'S REALLY SLEEPING OR IF HE'S JUST PRETENDING TO SO HE CAN EAVESDROP. NYEH!"

And as if on queue, one of the dummy's button eyes popped into animation.

"You got me figured out, huh?" he grumbled. "Whatever. What're you gonna do, kid? Shoot at me?"

"No."

"Oh..."

"I'm gonna shoot at you while you're moving around and hurling your cotton balls...As soon as I have this bow put together."

"Oh, ghee whiz. That makes a huge difference, don't it?"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"WOWIE! RECORD BROKEN YET AGAIN! YOU WERE AT IT FOR A GOOD HOUR, AND OUT OF FIFTEEN SHOTS, YOU ONLY HAD FOUR MISSES! AND THAT WAS JUST YOUR ARROW ATTACKS! EACH TIME YOU CAME INTO CLOSE COMBAT, YOU ABSOLUTELY DEMOLISHED THAT DUMMY!"

"I think..." she heaved. "I think...I've had enough hand-to-hand practice...But I'll have to keep practicing with the bow...Papyrus...I have an idea."

"YES?"

"How...How good are you at throwing snowballs into the air?"

"EXTREMELY! EVEY YEAR HERE IN SNOWDIN, WE HOST THE ANNUAL SNOW WARS! ALL OF THE PEOPLE COME OUT, BUILD TEAMS, CONSTRUCT SNOW FORTS AND DESTROY EACH OTHER WITH AN ENDLESS BARRAGE OF SNOWBALLS! IT'S THE FUNNEST THING EYER! BUT THAT'S NOT FOR ANOTHER THREE MONTHS...WHAT DID YOU HAVE IN MIND FOR THE TIME BEING?"

"It's simple: all you gotta do is toss the snowballs into the air and I'll see if I can hit them with my arrows."

"OOH, INTERESTING TRAINING METHOD! I LIKE IT!"

He followed the human outside for the training regimen. Out of the first wave of twenty-five snowballs tossed into the air, Ginger hit fifteen. The second wave, she upped her record to nineteen. The third saw regression with eighteen, and that was when she caught a break. She needed sufficient energy in order to perform properly.

"Hey, Papyrus," she said to him while the training was on pause. "You know, stuff for this bow and these arrows isn't the only thing I found at the dump. Also found a couple of uh...keepsakes. Not useful for the battlefield, but I thought they were neat, so I picked 'em up. Wanna see?"

"CERTAINLY!"

She lead him back into the shed, then slid off her bag and pulled the first of the two items out, putting it on the floor. It was the odd-looking, lightly worn stuffed fox...or stuffed rabbit? Whatever it was supposed to be.

"OH, THAT'S ADORABLE! IT LOOKS...ODDLY FAMILIAR...YOU KNOW WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS? DR. ALPHYS."

"Really?"

"OH, YES! THIS LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE SOMETHING FROM ONE OF THOSE SILLY-LOOKING KIDDIE CARTOONS SHE WATCHES! MOST OF THOSE COME FROM THE SURFACE AS WELL!"

"Wait," the human interrupted, amused by the thought. "She watches kid's shows? Why?"

"SHE'S QUITE ADAMANT THAT THEY ARE _NOT _JUST FOR CHILDREN, BUT I HAVE YET TO BE COMPLETELY CONVINCED IF THIS...HONESTLY, I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE EVEN WATCHES THEM! THE CHARACTERS TALK SO QUICKLY, I SWEAR, IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE ALL SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE! STILL, EACH TO THEIR OWN, AM I RIGHT? WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE?"

"Eh...I dunno. Sounds pretty harmless."

"BESIDES! SHE MORE THAN MAKES UP FOR IT BY BEING THE BRIGHTEST BULB IN THE UNDERGROUND! IF WE ONLY BASED OUR VIEWS OF PEOPLE OFF OF THEIR FLAWS, THEN...WELL...HOW WOULD ANYONE EVER MAKE ANY FRIENDS?"

"Heh...Yeah. You know, you make a good point, there."

"OF COURSE I DO! AFTER ALL, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD KNOW MUCH ABOUT MAKING FRIENDS, AS I AM ALMOST ALWAYS IN THE PRESENCE OF AT LEAST ONE! BUT BACK TO THE PREVIOUS SUBJECT MATTER...THAT FOX THING LOOKS TO BE IN FAIRLY DECENT SHAPE. WHY DO YOU THINK ANYONE WOULD HAVE THROWN IT AWAY?"

"Beats me," Ginger answered, putting it back into her pack. "I have the impression that humans are, uh...wasteful creatures. Oh, and here's the other thing."

And she pulled the unopened DVD.

"The plastic's still on it, too, so that means it's never been watched."

"OOH! IT HAS BONES ON IT! IN FACT, THEY LOOK LIKE...DINOSAUR BONES!"

"Dinosaurs?"

She wasn't unfamiliar with them; according to history, the reptilian titans roamed the entire earth many ages ago before dying out. But the subject was irrelevant to what they were all taught in history lectures, so the human only knew a handful by name, those being Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Dimorphodon. She hadn't gotten these facts from Uklah, but rather Finny, a middle-aged Snowy Owl who worked as her younger brother's pit guardian at the Academy for Orphaned Owlets in the canyonlands. She said that he had developed a fascination with dinosaurs as of late, and these were a few of the different kinds that he claimed to know of. Despite knowing their names, she really wasn't sure what any of them looked like.

The only dinosaur she could recognize from a picture was the Tyrannosaurus Rex; one of the most fearsome land predators in history, as tall as a giraffe and three times greater in length, weighing up to nine tons and feasting on anything that dared to cross it. Some said that it may have been an ancestor of some modern birds, given its avian gait and skeletal structure, and some even theorized that it had feathers. But most depictions Ginger had seen had a scaly, gator-like hide.

"IF IT'S NOT BEEN WATCHED YET, THAN LET US BE THE FIRST! IT LOOKS FASCINATING!"

"Thought you might like it. Let's just do one more twenty-five practice shots and then we can do that!"

She did her last wave of snowballs, and surprised herself when she only missed two out of the twenty-five.

"Okay, so that was a hundred in total, then the ones I hit...that's twenty-five, carry the two, and..." Ginger murmured when they'd finished, doing the math in her head. "That's seventy-five altogether. Three out of four; not bad, but I could probably do better...Maybe once more later."

"SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN! IN THE MEAN TIME, LET'S SEE WHAT THIS MOVIE HAS IN STORE FOR US!"

He dashed back outside with the human following close behind, kicking up snow as they ran into the log house. Sans was standing next to the television, a sock covered in sticky notes sitting not far from his feet on the floor, and he was reading the letter Ginger had given to him.

She watched as he shrugged, crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash in the kitchen, Papyrus oblivious to his brother as he set up the DVD player.

"What'd it say?"

"just some invitation. but it's gettin' declined; if they want me that bad, they can go ahead and dress someone up and pretend its me. that's what i'd do."

"You're such a lazybones."

"you do that on purpose?"

"Perhaps..."

"IT'S BOOTING UP!"

"what'chu guys watchin'?"

"We honestly don't know; never seen it before, but it's probably gonne be awesome."

"well, have fun. i'm goin' to grillby's."

"**SANS! YOU'LL NEVER GET TO TRY MY SPAGHETTI IF YOU KEEP FILLING YOURSELF WITH GREASE!**"

"thanks, but i'd like to see the light of another day."

"UGH! NEVERMIND!"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...Patience. Keep waiting, and it'll show up," she promised herself, her voice barely audible on her own ears.

It'd been almost two hours, and the human still had yet to arrive at the door to the Ruins. Maybe it'd found something to dig underneath the ground with, or to destroy the great stone door so she could get back in. It was safe in there; the doors only opened from the inside, and they were two heavy to manipulate as though they were wooden. If the human got into the Ruins, it would likely never come out, granted there was still food of some sort in there to sustain it, so it was imperative that she prevent that.

But even with sidetracks, and even on foot, it was still taking a while for her to get there.

Undyne flipped her spear impatiently from in the bushes; even if the human's death did mean freedom once and for all, she didn't have the entire day to sit here and wait to catch it by surprise. Had it turned tail, knowing it'd probably be hopeless trying to get into the Ruins? That was one of the only plausible explanations she could think of as to what was taking so damn long. Maybe someone had tipped it off about her plan? Not anyone who knew what was best for them; an act like that was nothing short of treason. Nobody would be dumb enough to help the one thing they were trying to kill, would they?...Except maybe...

_...No, he wouldn't...would he...?_

Papyrus; when he'd first come and told her about the human, he didn't seem all that eager to put it out of its misery, as was supposed to have been done. He claimed that it-she-whatever it was, she didn't give a crap-was...good. It almost made her sick having to try and put the words "good" and "human" together in a sentence. It was a ruse; a farce used to trick the skeleton. It had to be. The humans hadn't changed. They were just the same as they were a thousand years ago; and this was proven first only a mere decade ago, and then again barely two years ago when the sixth human came down and...

Savages. That was all they were. All they knew was how to steal; the stole their freedom, they stole their future, they stole so many lives and ruined countless more. But they were also smart; smart enough to devise evil plots, to take advantage...to deceive.

"...He's naïve," she muttered. "That thing could convince him into thinking it's the high ruler of the overworld if it wanted to. He's too innocent to think otherwise; thinking there's another way, trying to save it, thinking that they could be..."

She didn't want to say it, but she knew it was true.

"Thinking they could be...'friends'."

She hated the thought, but that human could verily easily pin the skeleton under its fleshy finger. He could be helping it, with the false notion that it was his friend.

It wasn't.

"...That's it."

She pulled her phone out and dialed a number.

"Hey...Yeah, that's me in there...What'd the cam in Waterfall pick up?...Freaked out when it realized it was bein' watched? Heh...Serves it right. But anyway, I've got a bad feeling about it; it's already had a couple run-ins with Papyrus, and I don't want to know what sorts of things it's been feeding him...If you see it, call me RIGHT AWAY, got it?...Thanks; knew I could count on you...Somethin' wrong? You sound a little shakier than normal...You sure you're okay?...Well...Alright; if you say so...Later."

And she emerged from the bushes and began making her way back to the town.

_If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

"What human, in their right mind, would throw away a PERFECTLY GOOD MOVIE?!"

"IT'S LUDICROUS, DISPOSING OF SUCH A HIGH-QUALITY FEATURE FILM, JUST BECAUSE ONE CAN'T REMOVE THE PLASTIC FILM EASILY WITH THEIR HANDS ALONE!"

The young human was baffled by the insane decision to be rid of the film. It was the first movie she'd ever seen, and she'd already determined that it was also her favorite movie of all time.

"Which one of the dinosaurs was your favorite?"

"OH, I LIKED THE BIG SNAPPY ONE! THE T. REX NEVER STOOD A CHANCE AGAINST IT WITH THOSE PUNY LITTLE ARMS! YOU?"

"Oh, the Velociraptors..." she sighed. "They're my spirit animal."

From the dream sequence to the egg exchange, the Velociraptors had captured Ginger's heart with their cunning intellect and canny likeness to birds, from their swift bipedal gait to their round, intelligent, fiery orange eyes to the crests of pinfeathers the males had on their heads. She felt as though she really had a connection with the man-sized pack-hunters, and that struck a chord with her. They really were her spirit animal...considering she wasn't a Barn Owl anymore.

That and the fact that the raptors just looked plain AWESOME, from their jaws full of razor-sharp teeth to their cool racing stripes. Everything in the movie looked so realistic; how did the humans accomplish this?

"What was your favorite part?"

"WAIT. I THINK WE MAY BOTH BE THINKING THE SAME THING. HERE, COUNT DOWN FROM THREE, AND LET'S SEE IF THAT'S TRUE!"

"I wouldn't be surprised!"

"THREE..."

"Two..."

"ONE..."

And they both blurted out their thoughts at the exact same time.

"**ALAN.**"

Both of them fell over, laughing so hard they could barely stand; the dream sequence with the talking raptor was the funniest thing either of them had ever witnessed.

"What if we did that to Sans!?" the human suggested. "He sits down at Grillby's and I sneak up behind him tap his shoulder-'ALAN.'"

"WE SHOULD DO THAT! WE REALLY REALLY SHOULD DO THAT!"

"HA! Ha...Aw, man. That was hilarious."

"guys, wrap it up."

"Well, speak of the devil!" Ginger greeted as the short skeleton entered through the doorway. "What's up?"

"BROTHER, I AM SEEING SWEAT ROLLING DOWN YOUR SKULL! EITHER YOU'VE FINALLY DECIDED TO GET OUT YOUR LAZY SLUM AND DO SOME EXERCISE, OR SOMETHING IS WRONG. AND KNOWING YOU, I HIGHTLY DOUBT THE FORMER TO BE THE CASE!"

"yeah. you're right. kid...she's back. she's searchin' the shops and inn, but I don't know how much time you have to-"

The human didn't say anything; instead she got up off the couch, raced to the door and took a peek outside just in time to see Undyne enter the library.

And that was when she made a mad dash for the shed.

_Time to put that secret compartment of yours to good use, Papyrus,_ she decided, gathering up her bow, arrows, cloak and sweater and shoving them all into her messenger bag in a disorganized fashion. Not a trace of evidence could be left behind. She lifted up the trapdoor, climbed up and hopped inside, squeezing her belongings up against her in her arms; with all the stuff in there with her, she had to admit, it was a lot more crowded than she remembered.

Meanwhile in the house, the skeleton brothers were exchanging a few words.

"where'd she go? is she that stupid?"

"NONSENSE, BROTHER! SURELY, SHE'D HIDDEN HERSELF AWAY IN THE SECRET COMPARTMENT I MADE BENEATH THE FIREWOOD! I BUILD IT FOR THIS EXACT HAPPENING!"

"secret compartment?"

"A TRAPDOOR LEADING TO SMALL SPACE INSIDE OF THE LOG PILE, WELL IHDDEN BY THE LOGS THEMSELVES! NOBODY WOULD SUSPECT A THING! HOW WOULD SOMEONE MANAGE TO HIDE BENEATH A PILE OF HEAVY LOGS WITHOUT BEING SQUISHED BY THEM?"

"my god...pap, that was a stroke of genius, if you ever had one. let's hope it works."

And just then, there was a loud, hard knock at the door.

"it's her," Sans whispered. "act natural, like she was never here."

"OH, I'M GOOD AT THAT," Papyrus rasped before opening the door.

There she was, armor, spear and all.

"HELLO, UNDYNE! WHAT BRINGS YOU TO SNOWDIN ON SUCH A SNOWY DAY?"

"Cut the crap, Papyrus," she snapped as she entered into the house. "You know why I'm here."

"DOES THIS CONCERN THE HUMAN WE ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE?"

"What do you think? Listen, when you first came and told me about it, you seemed to have gotten awfully chummy with that thing. Let me tell you something; that human is nothing but trouble, even if it tries to hide it with its little good deeds. It's nothing compared to the pain and suffering they've inflicted upon us for so long. Humans are the enemy. They aren't things to be harbored down here."

"DID SHE NOT ARRIVE YET AT THE RUINS?"

"That's just it; I don't think she's EVER going to arrive at the Ruins, and I think you two might be up to something," she replied, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"WHAT? YOU MEAN, HIDING THE HUMAN AWAY IN OUR HOUSE? PREPOSTEROUS!"

"Then you wouldn't mind me...looking around to make sure?"

"SEARCH ALL YOU WANT! NO HUMANS IN HERE!"

So she did; the captain flung open the sink cabinet; nothing there but a little white dog chewing on a bone. Nothing under the couch, or the other furniture, and nothing abnormal in the fridge.

_I wouldn't put it past him..._

She was about to head upstairs when something on the television caught her attention.

It was the main menu for a movie; one she'd never seen or heard of before...and it didn't look like something Papyrus would typically watch.

"...'_Jurassic Park 3,_' huh? Where'd you get this, Papyrus?"

"OH, I FOUND IT A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO AT THE DUMP WHILE SEARCHING FOR MORE COOKBOOKS! I THOUGHT I'D TAKE IT BACK AND WATCH IT TODAY; ANY MOVIE WITH BONES ON THE FRONT COVER MUST HAVE BEEN MADE WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS PUT IN PLACE! AND I WAS PROVEN RIGHT!"

"M-hm..."

_Plausible enough,_ she decided, finally making her way upstairs.

Nothing anywhere in Papyrus' room, and even less in Sans'...nothing but the stench of perspiration and dirty socks, and that seemed normal.

"Clean so far," the captain announced. "Last place that needs to be overlooked is the shed."

"OH, YES! MIND IF I ACCOMPANY YOU? THERE ARE A FEW CHANGES I'VE MADE AS OF LATE IN THERE I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLAIN!"

"...Changes, huh?"

"YES! I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING ONCE WE'RE THERE!"

She went out the door first, and Papyrus turned to his brother, who'd been standing idly beside the couch the whole time watching everything unfold. The taller skeleton flashed Sans a wink and a grin.

"hope you know what you're doin," he rasped, tensing up just a bit. Papyrus nodded and followed the guard captain outside.

"Uh...Yeah. No kidding."

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? I'VE DECIDED TO CONVERT THE SHED INTO A GUEST ROOM FOR THE TIME BEING! IF YOU EVER DECIDE TO SPEND THE NIGHT, YOU COULD SLEEP HERE INSTEAD OF ON THE COUCH!"

"What happened to the whole 'human prison' you had going on in here?"

"SANS DROPPED A BOMBSHELL ON ME YESTERDAY. ALAS; THE BARS I MADE WERE TOO WIDE TO CONTAIN HUMANS PROPERLY! SO I TOOK THE BARS DOWN, CHOPPED THE LOGS UP FOR FIREWOOD AND PUT THEM IN A PILE! SEE THERE? PLENTY OF FIREWOOD TO KEEP THE HOUSE NICE AND TOASTY! I KNOW JUST HOW MUCH YOU DESPISE THE EXTREMES."

Undyne followed his pointing finger; there was the pile of logs, stacked neatly in the corner.

"WHY DON'T YOU PULL ONE OF THOSE OFF SO WE CAN USE IT?"

"Papyrus, your house doesn't even have a fireplace, you do know that, right?"

"WELL, NOTHING A LITTLE HOME RENOVATION CAN'T FIX! I'LL HAVE TO DO THAT...IN THE MEAN TIME, WE COULD USE THEM FOR CAMPFIRES!"

"Eh..."

She took one of the logs off the side of the pile and tossed it up in her hand before giving it to the skeleton.

"I'LL JUST KEEP THIS IN SIDE FOR NOW SO I REMEMBER TO FIX THE FIREPLACE ISSUE!"

"Well...I don't-"

A strange banging noise came from...somewhere in the shed, it sounded like. Towards the firewood.

"What was that?"

"AH, HEH...I DON'T KNOW! HEH HEH...S-STARTLED ME A LITTLE THERE, I WILL SAY THAT...MAYBE IT WAS THE WIND PICKING UP AND BLOWING SOMETHING INTO THE WALL FROM OUTSIDE! THERE ARE A FEW TREES BACK THERE, SO MAYBE A BRANCH CAME LOOSE."

"Hm..."

"HEY! I'VE GOT AN IDEA! IF THE HUMAN COMES AROUND, WE CAN USE THIS AS A TRAP! THE HUMAN WILL BE SO DISTRACTED BY THE SHEER AMAZING DESIGN OF THE GUEST ROOM AND ALL OF THE COOL THINGS TO DO, SHE WILL BE COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS TO TIMEFLOW, AND YOU CAN RETURN TO CAPTURE HER! THAT IS...IF SHE DECIDES TO COME BACK...I'M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED TO HER; I THOUGHT WE HAD THIS WHOLE THING IN TH BAG!"

"You're not the only one; if it's not here, it might be back in Waterfall by now...Dear God, I've been going back and forth all day! When I finally get my hands on that human, I'll make sure it REALLY get's what's comin' to it for making me drag my rear end halfway across the Underground and back. You won't wanna be there when that happens, I can tell you that."

"EH...UNDERSTOOD, UNDYNE."

"Now I'm going to the Waterfall border and I'm staying there. It's bound to show it ugly face eventually. Gonna take the ferry to make sure I get there before it does."

"ARE WE STILL ON FOR TONIGHT?"

"Huh? Oh, right, your training. I, uh...if I have time."

"VERY WELL. GOOD LUCK, UNDYNE!"

She stepped out the door, and right when she shut it...

"_Ah-CHOO!_"

"OH, DEAR..."

The sneeze came from inside the firewood, and after double-checking to make sure Undyne wasn't coming back, Papyrus lifted up the trapdoor. The human rose up from the inside, wiping her nose.

"Nice save," she sniffed.

"YOU'RE NOT CATCHING COLD, ARE YOU HUMAN? THIS CERTAINLY WOULDN'T BE A GOOD TIME FOR THAT TO HAPPEN...YOU FLESHY FOLK ARE QUITE A BIT MORE SENSETIVE TO THE COLD THAN WE SKELETONS, FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN."

"No, no," she reassured as she climbed out. "It's just kinda dusty in there, is all...saw dust, I think most of it is. Here, let's see..."

When she and her belongings had fully re-emerged, she blew into the tiny space, and sawdust came spiraling up out of it.

"See what I mean?"

"WELL, IF YOU SAY SO! A WHILE BACK, UNDYNE STAYED OVER ON A PARTICULARLY NASTY NIGHT, AND CAUGHT NEAR-PNEUMONIA. THAT WAS A VERY WORRYSOME WEEK...IT'S A GOOD THING YOU SEEM TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE SNOWY WEATHER AT LEAST A BIT BETTER! SOMETIMES I WORRY FOR HER, WITH HER BEING THE HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD AND ALL. THE LAST TIME A HUMAN CAME DOWN HERE, IT...WASN'T PRETTY."

"You really care about her, huh?"

"WHY OF COURSE! WAIT...HAVEN'T YOU ASKED ME THIS ALREADY?"

"Perhaps. Heh heh heh..."

"THERE'S THAT CHEEKY LAUGH AGAIN...WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU, HUMAN?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing whatsoever...Hey, let's do that last training session, and then I'll be on my way. And, uh, how about you keep the movie for now? Might need a little extra space in my bag later on."

"YOU KNOW, UNDYNE MIGHT LIKE TO WATCH THAT SOMETIME," he commented as they headed back into the house. "SHE'S DEFINITELY THE TYPE OF PERSON THAT'D LOVE WATCHING COUNTLESS HUMANS GET EATEN!"

"I would think. Hey, wait, wait, watch this..."

She creaked the front door open to check for the other skeleton; he was still standing beside the couch, but he seemed to have dozed off. Ginger quietly came beside him, then tapped his shoulder.

"...huh...what...?"

He turned his head to find the human just a foot away from his face, looking him right in the eye.

"_ALAN._"

And barely a moment later, the entire house was erupting with the echoes of laughter bouncing off the walls.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Eighty-eight! New high!"

"EXCELLENT WORK, HUMAN! YOU'RE ALMOST AS ADEPT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AS I AM NOW!"

"Yeah...Well...Thanks again for havin' me here," she said to him, gathering her fallen arrows from the snowy ground and shaking them free of snow. "But I gotta head out; that Temmie Armor might be finished by now, so I'll have to pick that up on my way there, too. Next time you catch Sans lazin' around, steal the chance to put on that movie for him."

"WILL DO! WE'LL...STILL KEEP IN TOUCH, RIGHT?"

"Hey, man. What are phones for?"

"OH! RIGHT! WELL, LET'S TALK LATER! YOU'VE GOT A BARRIER TO CROSS!"

"Catch you on the-"

She was interrupted when the skeleton scooped her up in another goodbye hug.

"_Oof!_...flip side of things...!" she wheezed. "Dude, I can't breathe..."

"NYEH! SORRY, HUMAN...WELL, HAPPY TRAILS! NYEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

She turned and headed east again, bound for Waterfall. Before she stepped out of the snow, she looked back one more time. Papyrus was still standing there, waving.

What a cool dude...

Finally, she sped up and made her way through the dark caverns, passing Echo Flowers, hopping bridge gaps, heading ever forward, nobody by her side except her bag and her **DETERMINATION**. But she was careful not to rush, with the chance she might run into Undyne unprepared.

Finally, she made it back to the mushroom path that lead into Temmie Village, and made her way south, waving to the other Temmies as she passed them by, before entering the shop. The keeper was waiting there, giving the completed set of armor one more polish.

"**tEM don! tRY IT ON AN SEEE IF IT FITs!**"

She slipped her cloak, messenger bag off and shoes off, then fitted the armor on over her orange and white short-sleeve and brown shorts, slipping the boots on over her socks. She didn't even realize she was wearing socks until now; they were a light orange color, just like the slash marks on her shoes. She wondered how she got them...

_Oh, well. Doesn't matter._

The shopkeeper pulled over a mirror, and Ginger took a good, long look at herself.

It was almost a complete set, only lacking a helmet. The chest and back plate, shoulder pieces and gauntlets were all thin metal over light leather, and the arm pieces, leggings, boots and tassets were a combination of metal and thicker leather. The use of extra leather in place of metal lightened the weight of the armor; perfect for energy conservation and mobility, which she would need.

And the armor made her look sharp, too; in fact, she never felt stronger.

The suit was missing just one thing, however...What is was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

But then it struck her.

"Temmie...Do you happen to have any red paint?"

"**yaYa!**" she answered, fetching a small tube of it from one of the shop shelves and handing it to the human, along with a small brush. "**wHAT** **4?**"

"Just wanted to add a finishing touch to this...You sure I don't owe you anything? I don't have a ton of gold, but I could probably at least give you, like, ten or something."

"**nU! u KEEP UR GOL! tEM INSISTs!**"

"If you say so, Temmie...Thanks again for the armor. It's incredible," she bid on her way out. "Maybe I'll see you around again!"

"**bOI!**"

She exited the shop, then slipped the chest plate off, readying her brush with the scarlet paint. She made one stroke of the brush right down the middle of it, then one across up toward the top, then another across the center line, and it was complete.

This was the Symbol of Bhachtyr, the curved double cross which served as the emblem of the Tytonic Union, presently representing the two talons of Lyze of Kiel as they tore across the High Tyto's face in the Battle of the Ice Claws. The bright red color symbolized the burning passion all Pure Ones carried in their gizzards, and their oath to vanquish all things impure. It had first been seen used for the historic League of the Ice Talons by their leader, General Bhachtyr the Destroyer, whom the High Tyto himself had trained beneath during his prime. After the Snowy Owl perished, young Surtr took several pages from his book as he formed the Pure Ones, including his insignia. The Symbol of Bhachtyr; it was the Delta Rune of the Pure Ones.

And it was exactly what completed the armor.

"Finally going to face off against the cap', huh, kid?"

"Oh, hey there, Bob. Yeah, I'm ready," she replied, putting her cloak back on over her armor. "Big day, huh?"

"I'll say. Just...do us all a favor and don't go over board. A lotta people look up to Undyne around here, and...well...it wouldn't exactly be happy news for the Underground, finding out that their greatest hero kicked the bucket."

"...I'll do what I have to...but I won't overkill."

"Thanks. Rootin' for ya, kid."

The human nodded, then left Temmie Village for perhaps the final time; she didn't know if she'd ever be back. She headed along the mushroom path, trying to find her way through the maze to the northeastern road. She finally made it, and tracked her way back up past the row of Echo Flowers, across the bridge that Kidd nearly fell to his death from, and up to the next turn north.

She could sense that she was getting closer. A nervous pit settled in her stomach...or was that hunger?

Before she approached the north turn, she pulled out some of the spaghetti in the container she had leftover from the first helping Papyrus had ever given her, and she downed some more of it. After having eaten Papyrus's more successful batch, she found her face scrunching up reflexively; he had definitely done better than this since her arrival.

_At least the meatballs are good..._

Ginger packed it back up in her messenger bag, then slid out her bow, slipping all except one of her arrows into the smaller pouch closest to her back for easy access. The one arrow she still had in hand she set in the bow string, ready to fire it, and then she headed towards the turn, her footsteps quiet and light. The path turned north through a large rock structure, that almost looked like a miniature spire, like those in the Beaks...except it was far more jagged, and would impale anything unfortunate enough to fall onto the rock spikes from above. Another Save Point was just to the right of the turn, and Ginger brushed her foot through it.

***Waterfall-Undyne Arena**

***File Saved**

Undyne Arena...She had to be close now. The human looked up at the rock structure, and...

At the very top of it stood a familiar armored figure, dark and foreboding. Her back was turned to the human; she seemed oblivious to her presence.

Ginger rose her bow, pointed her arrow, then pulled the string back, aiming right at the captain's right shoulder. Undyne would be in for an unpleasent surprise.

And she fired.

And just before she let go of the string, the monster moved to the side, then shot her arm out as soon as the arrow passed where it would have hit had she not moved.

...She caught it.

She CAUGHT the FLYING ARROW_ IN HER HAND._

"...You missed," she taunted. Ginger was tempted to flee through the crag right then and there, but cowardice was not an option. So she stood her ground.

"So I did," she answered her.

"...Seven," Undyne continued. "Seven human SOULs, and King Asgore will become a god. Six...That's how many we have collected thus far...Understand, human? Through your seventh and final SOUL, this world will be transformed...First, however, as it customary for those who make it this far, I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people...It all started long ago..."

"The War of Humans and Monsters."

The Captain of the Royal Guard turned her head back down towards the human.

"The plaques scattered across Waterfall...I read them all. The battle. The aftermath; the construction of the Barrier and your imprisonment...The prophecy."

She turned her head back forward.

"...So, you know."

"I do."

"Hm...Well...It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it?"

"No...Wanna know why?"

"Why?"

The beast answered by turning to face her, and she leapt up off the jagged spire and landed before her.

"Because either way, you're about to die!" she bellowed, summoning her spear in a flash of blue light. "Your life is all that stands in between us and our freedom! And I can feel the hearts of every SOUL in the Underground pounding together at this very moment! Everyone has been waiting their whole lives for this day! And when everyone puts their hearts together...we can never lose! Especially against a weakling like you!"

"You underestimate me, Captain," she defended, the last word coming out a nasty growl. "Little do you know, whenever I wasn't outrunning your magic attacks, I was training for this moment. I knew I'd have to face you eventually, and that time has come."

"Fool! I've been training for longer than you've been alive! What makes you think you can defeat me, you coward? And let's not forget your lying little goody two-shoes shtick you've been using to get yourself around! 'Oooooh!" she mocked. "'I'm making such a huge difference by helping random strangers!' You know what would be more valuable to everyone! If you were DEAD!"

Now the human was angry; Undyne had trampled over her pride and spat on it. Her rage began to build, and her blue eyes developed a fiery glow.

"If you think I'm a coward, and that I only strive to urge others on," she announced, holding fast onto her bow and readying another arrow. "I'll fight you right now!"

"That's it, then!" the monster answered, assuming a fighting stance. "Now more running away! Let's settle this once and for all!"

"Do your worst, you masked beast!"

The creature snarled, then rose her hands to the sides of her head and pulled up, setting an object on one of the spikes jutting out off of it, making a metallic *_**clank**_*. The shadows cast by the jagged spire obscured the image, but upon closer inspection, Ginger realized what had been done.

She'd taken off her helmet. The ultimate sign of personal conflict.

This was going to be a brutal fight.

* * *

**A/N: Bet you all know what was in that envelope Sans got...heh heh heh, I love putting little easter eggs and references in this story; makes things funnier. Also, the inclusion of _Jurassic Park III..._It'll definitely spawn some more humor down the line. It's technically the worst movie in the series, which makes the fact that the characters enjoy it so much sort of a joke itself.**

**Also, don't let the title of the chapter deceive you. Even though it has the same name as one of the music tracks from the game(which plays at the very end of the True Pacifist Route) we're nowhere near the end. Au contraire, we're not even halfway done yet!**

**Oh, and for all you fellow Ga'Hoole nerds out there(if any) I changed some things up from the books to better fit the Pure Ones' role as protagonists in this series.(Despite their moderately differing objectives, they're technically the movie-verse Pure Ones, even though there are several book characters also mentioned.) In the books, the Snowy Owl's name is Bylyric, but the Symbol of Bhachtyr is still the canon name of the emblem. I switched these things up because canonically, the Symbol of Bhachtyr is a...uh...haggish symbol, if you know what I mean. And _ah don wan that._**

**Got to admit, it looks sprinkin' awesome, though.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! Remember to leave a review, and stay tuned for the fight!**


	18. Chapter 16: Clash of Champions

"...So..." the High Tyto grumbled. "...It seems as though the monsters of legend weren't as much a myth as we once thought."

"I'm just as surprised as you are, Your Pureness. And honestly, I've got some pretty mixed feelings about it. On one wing, my first impression of that one we spoke with was overall good; she seemed harmless enough, and she she even gave the young general a lending wing when she fell through."

"And you believe that through an adverse interaction with the magic composing the Barrier, she was transformed into a human?"

"That's the theory. Aside from the human part, everything she said to us about her matched, from the name to the shade of her eyes."

"Well, Tarn, we both know that shape-shifting magic is not foreign to us; if natchmagen could do it, then there's no reason to say monster magic can't. Who knows? They may not be all that different from each other."

"Yes...On the other wing, just because one's nice enough doesn't mean they all are. She could be in grave danger, Your Pureness, and I'd like your thoughts on the-"

Metal Beak rose his wing abruptly, signaling Tarn to silence himself.

"...Something's happening."

A gust of cold wing blew through the tree tops. The Sooty Owl's gizzard twisted into a terrified knot, yet at the same time, he felt a course of adrenaline flood his veins.

He knew this combination of feelings all too well; it was the feeling one felt when flying into war.

"...You're right." he realized.

"What?"

"She's just entered the battlefield; I can feel it in my gizzard."

"...Oh, no...Who? What? I'm scared to imagine..."

Another haunting image came to his mind. It was a picture of the white-feathered king of the Ga'Hoole Tree, Boron, mask, claws and all, with a burning hatred in his eyes.

That type of enemy...

"The most dangerous kind of enemy, Tarn. Something fierce. Something vicious. Something so determined to kill her that it won't stop until one of them is dead."

"What do we do?" Phillip finally asked, his already quiet voice quaking.

There was a long silence before the High Tyto finally answered him.

"...Nothing," he replied flatly.

Tarn and his protégé exchanged glances, their beaks somewhat agape.

"I know what you're both thinking," the old warrior told them. "You must think I'm yoiks, right?"

He couldn't help but let out a bit of a chuckle after he said it.

"...No. There's nothing we can do. Sending another Pure One into the mix will just cause havoc down there, I know it will. She's dealt with foreign forces by herself before, and things turned out for the better, is that not the case? In fact, is that not why we are here on the mainland with the eagles right now?"

"...That is the case, your Pureness," the Burrowing Owl confirmed.

"Young Ginger may be exceptionally apt on the battlefield, but her true talent is peace-making. She is a diplomat; she knows how to work with people. And when she can't talk her way out of things, she'll fight, and she'll fight valiantly. This is her battle. Let her fight it."

"...How will we know if she-"

"Time will tell, young Phillip. Time will tell..."

An eerie song seemed to echo through the trees as the wind howled through the leaves. A great cloud blew over the sun and cast the forest in a shadow, and the king of the Pure Ones could hear the rumble of thunder above growing stronger. Louder. Angrier.

The earth itself seemed to be in tune with Ginger's gizzard as she faced whatever beast wanted her dead.

The thunder, pounding like a drum-her beating heart.

The wind, bending even the tallest trees-her strength.

The cascade of rain that was soon to follow-her fighting spirit.

The brewing sky, ready to unleash its fury...her **DETERMINATION**.

The earth was ready to clash against the enemy with all its strength, and ready to bring new vigor into the ones who looked up to it with the storm it was forming.

But the earth refused to die.

* * *

_..._

* * *

Ginger glared up at the captain's unarmed face as she emerged from the shadows, scanning her over.

Sans wasn't joking when he had called her a "fishwife."

She really WAS something like a fish, albeit a very humanoid one. The scales on her face were a murky greenish-blue, and red-webbed fins protruded on either side of her head where there should have been ears. The sharp, crooked teeth that jutted out of the top of her mouth were nearly as yellow as her slit-pupiled right eye, and where her left one should have been there was instead a dark eyepatch. Her hair was nearly as red as blood, and it blew like a red banner in the hazy wind.

_Good Glaux...She's HIDEOUS!_ Ginger almost wanted to say, trying not to let the confident smirk on her face soften into a mocking laugh. Undyne's ugliness made her feel that much better about her human form.

The fish flashed a menacing grin.

"Ready to die?" she taunted.

"Not today, fish-face."

They assumed their fighting stances.

"En garde!"

"Have at thee!"

Ginger swiftly fired one of her arrows, and her enemy just barely missed. She shot the human a poisonous glare, then summoned one of her arrays of spears, pointing them all down at her. They took their time approaching the target, and Ginger found herself dodging each and every one.

"Not bad," Undyne sneered. "Then how about this?"

She sent a wave of energy at the human, sending up the pebbles from the ground as it washed over her. The human felt something happening to her SOUL again, and it revealed itself to have lost its flaming red-orange hue and become a sickly shade of green. It darted back to where it belonged, and Ginger suddenly realized that her feet had stuck where they were, fastened on the ground.

She couldn't move.

"As long as your green, you can't escape me, human! Unless you can face this head on, you won't stand a chance!"

She summoned a streak of smaller, pointed bullets, coming at the target head on. Ginger noted that they seemed thin; could she block them with her bow?

Ginger tried this, and to her surprise and joy, it worked. Each of the three mini-spears dissipated the moment they touched the bow, and she was left unharmed.

"This is too easy," Ginger sneered.

"Then how about I give you more of a challenge?"

Now the bullets were coming from both her front and her left. And they were going faster.

Fortunately, she still blocked them all. And the moment she blocked off the last one, she aimed her bow and shot at the monster's shoulder in a split second. The tip completely embedded itself into her shoulder plate, and Undyne staggered back sporting a grimace.

"Direct hit!" the human cheered.

The fish monster winced as she reached up and yanked the arrow out of her armor before snapping it in two and casting it to the side. Ginger could see that a good half of the tip was red with her blood; it had gone in pretty deep.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that!" the captain roared, striking up another array of bullets.

And now they were even faster.

And coming from every direction; even the back.

But the human didn't give in; she cut off almost every spear as they came, no matter what side they approached from. Even the back ones weren't as hard as they seemed; she just had to catch sight of them before they drew near and time her blocks right. Only one of the back arrows hit; and with her Temmie Armor, it didn't do very much.

But then Ginger's SOUL flashed back to scarlet, and she just barely noticed a larger spear coming her way from the side in time to duck beneath it. Ginger lifted her leg, and it actually complied; her feet were free to move again.

"I'll give you some credit," the monster snarled. "You've held on longer than the last human did against me."

"Well, unlike the last human, I came prepared."

"Really? Then let's see how well you prepared for THIS!"

Now there were spears coming up out of the ground at her, and Ginger zig-zagged forward towards the enemy as they continued to strike from below.

She was approaching melee range, and Undyne summoned another one of her longer spears in preparation. The younger warrior analyzed the position of the monster as she got closer, looking for a place to strike. She noted that her legs were spread apart in her stance...maybe far enough apart to...

_Oh, she won't be expecting this..._

Just when it appeared the human was going to head-on tackle her, it dove down at her feet. When the captain looked down, she was gone.

"Wha-"

And then came a swift series of blunt blows right to her spine, just hard enough to stun. Right when she turned around to face the offender, she was met with a hard thwack up the chin, and then another, stronger one right to her face.

If Undyne had a nose, it certainly would have been broken by the impact.

For good measure, Ginger tore off her cloak and flung it into the monster's face, and she tangled herself in the fabric trying to break free of it, emitting a series of angry grunts and muffled curses.

The human took the opportunity to escape through the tunnel going north through the spire; she had another trick up her sleeve.

Finally, Undyne freed herself of the abandoned cloak and stood tall again, her eye almost glowing orange with fury. When she scanned her surroundings, the human was gone; she must have escaped through the tunnel and up the path leading into Hotland.

She couldn't let her get there.

The captain rushed through the tunnel in pursuit of the human; she was still nowhere to be seen. The human had to be somewhere close by. There was no way she could get down the path that quickly. If SHE couldn't do that that quickly, there was no way a scrawny human could.

"...You're a thorn in my side, and in everybody else's down here!" she growled.

"You know what's worse than a thorn in the side?"

Her voice came from somewhere above and behind, and the captain turned to face it; nothing there but the jagged spikes of the rock formation and the inky shadows it cast.

Undyne continued meandering the area, searching for the smallest sign of the enemy. It had gone eerily quiet.

"No...What?" she inquired, hoping it would get the human to show its face again.

Instead, her question was answered by an intense pain going through the back of her leg at the joint, just missing the kneecap. It was one of the only weak points in her armor. The pain was incapacitating; she fell forward and caught herself with her own hands as she collapsed, calling out as she did.

"How about an arrow to the knee!?" the human finally said.

Undyne reached back to remove the projectile from her leg; she would be sure to deliver twice as much pain to he human.

The sound of metal boots approaching, lighter and quicker than her own, came fast.

"Or how about-"

Just when she managed to pull out the arrow, she was met with the powerful, metal slam to the side of her face.

"A boot to the head!"

The fish monster let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a pained groan and an angry holler as her arms caved in, and her adversary pushed the same armored foot she'd attacked with atop her head and pressed her face down into the dry dirt.

"Had enough yet?" she taunted.

Undyne growled as she mentally tried to shake off the pain, and flashed another ugly grin.

"...I was just warming up!"

And the beast grabbed Ginger by the foot, rolled over and sent the human falling flat onto her stomach. She tried to stand back up and make a run for it, but she was a moment too slow. Before she knew it, the Captain of the Royal Guard had pinned her down onto her back with her own foot, and she summoned a spear and pointed it down at the human's face, just inches away from her left eye.

"Now..." the monster roared. "Now I've got you. Anything you'd like to say before losing your head?"

"Yeah...What's Papyrus doing here?"

"What...?"

She turned her attention towards the path beneath the spire behind them.

"Papyrus?"

***But nobody came.**

He wasn't there.

But what DID make itself present was another blow to the side of her head; this time with BOTH of the human's feet, and it knocked the monster back onto her own feet, though badly disoriented by the attack. Ginger saw this, and she took the chance to further decrease her rightness of mind with two more jabs, right to her ugly face, followed up by the strongest straight punch she'd ever thrown, so strong it made her own hand sting, even with the protection of her gauntlet.

"Shouldn't have taken off your helmet, fishy!"

Undyne exclaimed in shock and agony at the blow, bringing her hands up to her face. Ginger took the opportunity once more, bolting up the northern path.

When the captain finally opened her eyes again, she saw the human heading down the pathway, Hotland bound.

"You filthy LIAR! GET BACK HERE!" she hollered, staggering back onto her feet again and bursting into her own sprint. It wasn't long until she began to catch up with the enemy again. Ginger tried to hasten her already fast gait, trying to push herself to the very limit, but it was futile; somehow, even clad in her heavy set of all-metal armor, Undyne was nearly twice as fast a runner.

She was just nearly upon her when Ginger got the smart idea to stop in her tracks and duck down again. The fish monster failed to react quickly enough, and tripped over the knee-high obstacle the human had curled herself into.

"Ha! Thanks for DROPPING by!" the Pure One remarked, leaping over her with a powered stride and turning back to face her, a smug grin spread across her face.

The beast snarled.

"Come on! Let me STICK around a little longer!" Undyne retorted, sending another wave of magic energy sweeping over her.

Just like that, Ginger's feet were stuck to the ground again.

"Oh, come on..."

And Undyne used the same attacks as before; the tiny spears coming at her from all directions, but this time, they were faster than ever. Ginger was hit by a good three of the first wave, and even with her armor, she was beginning to be worn down.

"For years we've dreamed of a happy ending," the captain proclaimed. "I'm not gonna let you snatch it away from us when sunlight is just out of reach! Give up, already!"

"It won't make a difference! Every time you knock me down, I'll get right back up!"

"UURGH!" she growled, summoning another array of bullets, all of which Ginger blocked out this time. "Alphys told me humans had something called **DETERMINATION**, and that was what made them so strong. I see now what she meant by that...But I'm determined, too! Determined to END THIS! RIGHT NOW!"

Now for her next trick; the arrows came from all directions, but they weren't pointing straight forward. Ginger wondered why...

Only to find out that it was because they swerved around and hit from the side they pointed at in a very confusing manner!

She only managed to block four of the ten bullets, and by the time the assault had ceased, she was nearly battered into collapsing. She huffed, then rose a hand to her cheek; the skin had broken there, and her face was slippery on the metal finger tips. Sure enough, the bronze-yellow metal of the finger was wet with red.

"What's the matter, punk?" Undyne sneered. "Can't handle a little blood?"

"I've seen plenty of blood! In my last battle on the surface, my stomach was torn clean open and I still fought!"

"I'll believe it when I see the scar! You're just a coward, thinking you can intimidate me with your lies! 'WHAT'S PAPYRUS DOING HERE?' You sicken me! Alphys made me think humans were cool...But even your giant robots and flowery swordswomen can't convince me that you're anything less than the scum of the earth!"

"I don't know anything about that! But you know what I do know?"

"What?"

"That I at least have two eyes to see just how NUTS you are!" she answered, firing another arrow from where she stood.

The monster's eyes widened, and she dodged the arrow just before it went right into her middle. When she turned back to face Ginger, her huge, menacing smirk shrank into a tiny frown. The human raised a confident eyebrow.

"Gotcha," she mocked in a whisper, winking with her left eye to add insult to injury.

Undyne tightly shut her one right eye.

"Gonna cry me a river, now?" she scoffed. "That'd be a sight to-"

Before she could finish, the fish monster opened her eye again. The yellow sclera had darkened into a black void, and her slit pupil flashed white against it, now shining with a passionate hatred as intense than the fyngrot of any hagsfiend. She bore her jagged teeth again in a beastly scowl.

"...Oh," Ginger said flatly, realizing her potentially fatal error.

"...How** DARE **YOU...!?" she snarled. "I. WILL..."

Another series of bullets appeared around her, more plenteous than ever, and a heavy mix of the standard blue and the off-throwing yellow ones. Ginger paid close attention to the direction the yellow spears were pointing in, even at the speed they were going, and managed to block all except one blue bullet and all but two of the yellow ones.

Undyne flashed her SOUL back to scarlet again, and the human ducked beneath another larger spear as it whizzed by without warning.

"**SLAUGHTER YOU!**" the creature finished. "Forget the surface! This! THIS JUST GOT PERSONAL."

"Try me!" the human snapped as she turned tail yet again, turning the corner heading east and passing an electric sign that read:

"**WELCOME TO HOTLAND!**"

_Almost there..._ she said to herself, throwing her arms behind her to give her gait a streamlined speed. For a split second, she realized that this was how the Velociraptors from _Jurassic Park III_ ran, tilted forward and on their toes, just like so many birds did. And that was what made them so fast.

The only thing Ginger was missing was the sturdy tail for weight balance; despite the speed of her gait, she felt as though she would fall flat onto her face should she slow down, like Kidd so often did when he ran.

And then when the sound of the captain's metal footsteps entered her ears again, she remembered WHY she was running like so.

_Keep it up or you'll never watch _Jurassic Park III_ again!_

She had so much more than that to live for, but it was still enough to make her legs pump just a bit faster. Even so, Undyne was still gaining ground; by the sound of it, she was only a few yards behind her. Ginger clenched her fist. If she tried the obstacle trick again, she might become predictable. She had another idea.

When the fish monster was just about to grab her by the shoulders again, she spun around to face her and sent a hook flying clean into her jaw, powered by her entire torso.

Ginger caught sight of something small and yellow fly out of Undyne's mouth before she covered it. She caught a whiff of raw fish, with just a tiny bit of a metallic tint to it, and she saw blood dripping from the fish's mouth and leaking out of her fingers.

_Holy racdrops...Did I just knock her tooth out!? That's awesome!_

But she barely had time to celebrate her feat; she had to keep going before the beast could regain her senses, and she bolted back down the path, finally passing the sign and exiting the tunnel.

Now, the atmosphere had turned from cool to humid, but she could barely tell, and she could care less. She passed a sentry station; Sans was there, and he had apparently dozed off, completely oblivious to the events playing out before him.

Ginger crossed a wooden bridge, hovering a good twenty feet over a lake of lava; the heat wave rising up from the molten rock hit her almost instantly, and she didn't even realize it until she was already across. Finally, her legs' pleas to rest were answered, and she staggered to a halt just ten feet away from the bridge; her armor might not have been as thick as Undyne's, but it was still trapping in heat, and it was getting to her quickly. She couldn't go on like this without giving herself a heatstroke.

The human turned around just in time to see the monster stumbling forward across the bridge, twice as badly affected by the heat and humidity than herself. The scowl on her face that she'd flashed at the lazy skeleton was wearing off, and as she stumbled forward, she nearly lost her footing on the bridge and fell into the pool of magma below.

"...Armor...so...hot..." she huffed with a low growl, her eye glazing over. She wasn't even sure what she was looking at anymore, her vision had gotten so cloudy.

"But I...can't...give...up..."

Readying another arrow, the human stepped back slightly, only slightly, as she watched the captain fall to her knees, reaching out towards the human with the hand not being used to keep her from collapsing, in a vain attempt to grab her.

"Come...back...here...you...son of..."

She emitted an obnoxious combination between a gag, a cough, and a gasp for breath, and her arm gave way, letting her fall onto the bridge, the wind having been completely knocked out of her.

Ginger watched for what felt like an hour, though in reality, it was barely half a minute. Every so often, Undyne would open her eye again and mumble something unintelligible, trying to crawl forward across the bridge. But it was obvious that she wasn't completely there. She wasn't going to be getting up any time soon in the state she was in.

"...Heh..." the human huffed. "Heh heh...Hah ha...Ha ha ha...! Ha, ha!"

Her relieved chuckles strengthened into a victorious laugh.

"Ha, ha, ha! HA! Parry that, you sprinking casual!" she spat. "If I wanted to, I could finish you off right here, right now!"

And she was very tempted to do so to the one who had relentlessly stalked her through Waterfall and had just tried to outright murder her face-to-face.

But the promise she'd made to Bob held fast with her; if she killed Undyne, all of the people that looked up to her...Papyrus, Kidd, many others...They'd lose all hope.

"...But I'm not going to," Ginger continued after stepping closer to the creature and leaning over her enormous form. She wasn't even sure she could hear her, but she still said it. "I'm not going to stoop down to your level and turn into the cowardly scum you think I am. Just to prove how wrong you were."

"I'll..." the monster wheezed. "...Kill...you..."

"Really?" she mused. "Let's see you try."

The captain rose a shaky arm up at her, using the other one to try and lift herself yet again. But after a few seconds of wobbling, it gave right back in, and as she collapsed onto her stomach, just like before, her eye rolled up into her head, and she went limp, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Ginger watched for a few seconds as she lay there, motionless; the only movement she could detect was the slow, shallow rise and fall of the beast's middle as she struggled to breathe.

"Look at you...You're ridiculous!" she giggled. She was defeated, she was completely out of it, she was helpless! She was...she...

She didn't look very good. If she didn't do...something, she'd probably die anyway, cooking alive in her oven of a set of armor like the fish she was.

"Ah...I'd go get the lemon and butter, but, uh...Catch and release, I guess? Papyrus wouldn't like hearing that you were roasted alive...Neither would Kidd...or anyone else..."

She looked around in search of someone to help her out; there was no way she could drag the heavy monster all the way back to Waterfall.

But instead of another monster, her eyes settled on a water cooler, sitting in the far northeast corner of the island in the lava they were on.

"Oh, joy and rapture..." she huffed. Even if she wasn't in near as bad shape as Undyne, she still had to prevent herself from meeting the same fate.

The water cooler provided paper cups, one of which she gladly took from the dispenser before pushing the tab on the faucet and generously filling the little disposable cup almost all the way to the top. Instead of swigging it down in one gulp, she savored the drink; it was no spring water, having a bit of a bitter hint from the impurities from the cooler itself, but it was cold and it was wet, and that was all she cared about.

"Sweet nectar of the Sacred Forces..." she gulped as she finished off the beverage. She filled the cup again and turned to look at the fallen captain; her eye had opened back up, and she was staring up at her with a strange, delirious, almost pleading expression.

"Thirsty?" she asked as she showed Undyne the cup full of water, another smug grin spreading across her face. The human looked at the cooler again; there was still PLENTY of water in it. It wouldn't hurt to just...

"Whoops," she remarked, tipping the cup and letting the water spill out onto the hot, dry dirt, which eagerly soaked it up. The monster's eye widened at the sight of the human sadistically pouring the water out onto the ground before her.

"N...no...You..." she pleaded, reaching forward once more, only to lose consciousness yet again, emitting a parched cough before she did.

Ginger filled the cup one last time, then drew near the monster, getting a better look at her face. It looked very dry-no sweat, even-and very bruised from all of the punches the young fighter had thrown at it. The trickle of blood running down her chin from the corner of her mouth was drying up, too, sticking to her face. The human sniffed; she could have sworn she smelled cooking fish already.

"Alright, fine. No more foolin' around. But I'm not doing this because I feel sorry for you. This is for everyone else's sake."

She stooped down before her battered face and poured most the water over the top of her head, wetting it; her green-blue scales seemed to absorb some of the moisture. The piscine creature groaned and coughed again. Ginger rolled her eyes, then grabbed her by the chin and tilted her head up to pour the rest of the water directly into Undyne's mouth through her crooked overbite. When she put her heavy head back down, she saw some of it begin to dribble out.

"Jeez, swallow the stuff," she told her with an unamused frown, crossing her arms. "I'm not your mom."

"Uuuuugh..." she moaned, beginning to regain her senses.

"Well, I hate to leave you in the dust, but...Wait. No I don't. Anyway, I'm gonna make like a bird and flock off."

Saying this, Ginger leapt back over the creature with a bounding stride and bolted back to the sentry station she's seen Sans at on the other side of the bridge. The skeleton was gone; maybe he'd wizened up and made his own retreat before the fish could screech at him for being a lazy, useless bum. Either way, it seemed like a smart decision to duck beneath there before Undyne could regain her senses all the way and comprehend what she was doing.

Soon enough, Undyne's clanging, albeit unsteady footsteps drew near, but she didn't bother approaching the station; she just staggered by, focusing more on staying awake long enough to get back to Waterfall from this muggy hell than searching for the human again. She'd get her chance again, and there were mercenaries in Hotland that knew how to handle her if she got there before she could. Right now, she just had to rest.

The human peeked out from the sentry station the moment the monster disappeared down the tunnel, sliding the bow and unused arrow back into her bag. Hopefully, she wasn't going to be coming back any time soon.

"Oh, man..." she heaved, a smile inching its way across her face. "Heh. You're not goin' so soft, after all, you know? You still got it, Ginger. You still got it..."

It was just then that her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket, flipped it open and answered the caller.

"Hello?"

But there was no answer. Nothing but static.

"...Hello?"

"_**ALAN.**_"

As soon as she realized what'd been said, she burst into a laughing fit. Papyrus did the same on the other end as response to her reaction.

"How's it goin' Papyrus?"

"_YOU'RE ASKING ME HOW I'M DOING? IM NOT THE ONE GOING OFF TO FACE CAPTAIN UNDYNE ON THE BATTLEFIELD! NYEH HEH HEH HEH! BUT YOU SEEM IN GOOD HUMOR. ALL WENT WELL, I'M HOPING? DID YOU, PERHAPS, EVEN MANAGE TO CONVINCE HER TO...NOT CAPTURE YOU?_"

"Ah...I'm a little bruised up, but I took less of a beating than the fish. Heck, she almost croaked with the heat; she chased me all the way to Hotland and collapsed on the bridge above the lava. If it hadn't been for me, she might not have made it."

"_OH, HUMAN...EVEN AFTER ALL OF THE THREATS SHE MADE TO KILL YOU, YOU STILL HAD THE HEART TO GIVE HER A HAND. I'M TEARING UP JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!_"

"Aw, come on, Papyrus. Don't get all sappy on me."

"_NYEH! UNDYNE SAYS THAT TO ME SOMETIMES...YOU KNOW SOMETHING, YOU ALMOST SEEM LIKE A SMALL, HUMAN VERSION OF HER IN SOME WAYS. YOU ACT SUPER TOUGH AND YOU FIGHT LIKE A BEAST, BUT DEEP DOWN YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT PEOPLE. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY YOU FIGHT THE WAY YOU DO! FOR YOUR FRIENDS!_"

"Heh, yeah...Guess you could put it that way. Gerson said something to that extend the first time I visited him. Oh, and if you're wondering, Undyne's on her way back to Waterfall, I think; probably heading home."

"_LIKELY SO! OUR TRAINING SESSION IS IN JUST OVER AN HOUR. OH, THAT REMINDS ME! I CALLED TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE GRAND IDEA I JUST HATCHED UP!_"

"I'm all ears."

"_PICTURE THIS: YOU. ME. UNDYNE. AT HER PLACE. MAKING SPAGHETTI! HONING OUR BATTLE SKILLS! HANGING OUT TOGETHER AND BEING THE BEST OF FRIENDS!_"

"Uh...Me? Friends? With HER?" she scoffed. "Give me a break, Papyrus; never in a thousand years, willingly at least."

"_OH, JUST GIVE HER A CHANCE! EVENTUALLY, SHE'LL COME TO REALIZE JUST HOW GOOD YOU ARE, EVEN IF SHE DOES NEED A LOT OF CONVINCING! WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY I'M INVITING YOU TO COME WITH ME TO HER HOUSE! IF WE CAN CONVINCE HER THAT SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO KILL YOU, I'M CERTAIN YOU TWO WILL END UP MAKING GREAT PALS!_"

"Aaaaand, you're positive that she won't end up splattering my blood all over her walls like she said she was gonna do?"

"_DON'T WORRY, HUMAN! I HAVE A FOOLPROOF PLAN!_"

"That being...?"

"_YOU'LL SEE! SO, WHAT DO YOU SAY? MEETUP AT HER PLACE AT SIX?_"

"I...Well...Okay, but I'm bringing my bow just in case things go awry."

"_DEAL! SEE YOU IN AN HOUR! HER HOUSE IS IN ONE OF THE NOTHERN PATHS IN WATERFALL, NORTHWEST OF TEMMIE VILLAGE! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY MISS IT IF YOU SEE IT! THE HOUSE ITSELF LOOKS LIKE AN ANGRY FISH!_"

"I think I know where it's at; I've been around that area a few times recently, and I think one of my Temmie friends went there himself to help out with leading her off course when we were trying to send her off my trail."

"_A TEMMIE, YOU SAY! ONE MADE YOU THAT SET OF ARMOR AS WELL, RIGHT?_"

"That's right. But this Temmie-his name's Bob-He's uh...a little more...how do I put this...normal, then the other Temmies. I mean, don't take that the wrong way, I love how the Temmies speak and act, but...Bob is, like, a breath of fresh air among their antics, you know what I mean?"

"_AH, YES! HE CERTAINLY SOUNDS LIKE A FINE FELLOW! WELL, TALK TO YOU LATER!_"

And he was gone. Ginger smiled; he was REALLY what she'd just needed, after all that went down.

But as comforting as they were, his words were not a panacea for her wounds. She was an absolute mess; her cheek was scabbing over and wet with blood, her sides were bruised from the inside out from the magic mini-spears, her good fist was sore from all of the punches she threw with it, her armor was tattered and bloodstained, and her hair was a greasy, tangled mop.

"Wouldn't be surprised if I look like I came right out of a coffin," she remarked before heading back west for Waterfall. Perhaps she could buy some food from somewhere to patch herself up before showing up at the captain's house.

_Gerson...Maybe some more of his Sea Tea would do me some good, if he doesn't mind it._

She followed the path from which she came, down the Echo Flower Path and navigating the mushroom maze. She could almost smell the deliciously earthy beverage already, and...Didn't he also have crabapples? Anything that'd help her out. Frankly, even if she did like the Sea Tea, she didn't care whatever food she could get hold of would taste like, as long as it healed her wounds.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Good Queen of Monsters in a flowery muumuu!" the old tortoise exclaimed when he caught sight of the battered human entering his shop.

"I know," Ginger sighed, making sure she wasn't trailing any blood into the den. "I look like death, don't I?"

"You look like younger me came back from the past and decided to clobber you! What've you been doin!? Fightin' against the captain herself!?"

"Uh, well...Yes, actually, Mr. Gerson. I did. And, uh...You could say I technically won. She should be fine, though; went back home."

"Well...'s long as she's alive...Can I getcha anything?"

"Maybe some more of your Sea Tea. And I think I'll have a crabapple to boot. Anything to patch myself up."

"Oh, well, sure thing there, kid. If I don't, you might end up keelin' over right here in front of me! Heh heh heh heh!" he remarked as he tended to preparing the beverage, the same as last time. While he waited for the water to boil, he fetched something from one of his shelves, tossing it up in his surprisingly nimble hand as he made his way back over to the human with it.

Ginger dug out 43G to make the exchange; now she only had 24 to spare, but if this helped her out, she could always get more.

"That's for the Sea Tea, too; I'd give a tip like I did last time, but I'm startin' to run a little short compared to last time we met."

"Well, that's just fine; I don't need no tip; just happy to have this stuff of my hands, is all. You and your tall bony friend just made my job a whole lot easier with your helpin' an old man out, that's for sure. Here's the Crab Apple, there ya go..." he told her as he dropped the fruit into her open palm.

"Oh..."

"Somethin' wrong?"

"No, no...Just was, uh...expecting something a little different from this, I guess..."

The crabapple he'd given her wasn't a crabapple, but a literal CRAB APPLE. It was shaped very much like a crab, and the salmon-red skin splotched with lighter yellow patches was soft and almost wet to the touch.

"Well, what WERE you expecting?"

"Uh...Something a bit more round and small, I guess..."

She bit into it curiously; it tasted like a cross between a watermelon and a pear, and the flesh was so juicy, when she sank her teeth into it, it spurted some of it out.

Not bad...Better than the Sea Tea, actually.

"The crabapples on the surface are like that," she explained after she swallowed. "And not anywhere near as sweet and juicy as this, they're more, uh...sour and stiff. Erm, I just had a thought; have you ever considered using these to make tea?"

"Well, shoot, I certainly have!" he replied. "Although I will admit; it works a lot better in Golden Flower than in the Echo Flower blend I whip up here. It clashes against the nice, down-to-earth taste and aroma with its sweetness; completely overrides it, actually. And if there's too much tea in the mix, you can't taste the Crab Apple. There's no thin line of balance, no matter what you try to do to them. It just doesn't work off the paper."

"Oh. I see what you mean."

"'Up, water's boilin'. Here it comes."

* * *

_..._

* * *

***Waterfall-Quiet Zone**

***File Saved**

Ginger sighed, then made her way back over to the small pool of clear water just west of the Save Point, dangling her legs over the edge. The toes of her shoes just barely scraped the surface as she lightly kicked them in a tedious fashion, watching the tiny ripples forming from the little scuffs she made on the water.

She looked at her reflection; her wounds had mostly disappeared, except for a few tender spots n her sides and one on her cheek, but she was still covered in dirt, perspiration, and a few drops of dried blood. And the smell of it wasn't too pleasant either.

"Well...Hope there ain't nobody watching right now."

Ginger removed her stuffy armor and the now tattered cloak that she'd retrieved on her way back through the spire tunnel again and stored them away in her bag. The armor stowed away surprisingly well inside, much to her satisfaction. Then she removed the bag itself from her shoulders, and slipped her footwear off, now only in her shirt and shorts, then dipped herself into the small spring, not giving a hoot that she was getting her clothes all wet, to cleanse herself of the grime the battlefield had coated her with. Even after a good ten minutes of scrubbing her scalp with her bare hands in the water and running her fingers through the length of her tawny hair, she could swear that it still had dirt and grease in it. If she ever needed Woshua and his soap hose, now would have been the time.

But she finally got everything off, even without the aid of soap.

The human grunted as she pushed herself out of the water and sat back onto the ledge, shaking some of the water off her feet before fastening her socks and shoes. She stood up, then wrung her hair, and then finally took her shirt up and squeezed the water back into the small pool, looking down at her reflection again to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

And then, when she saw her abdomen, she paused.

"Wait..."

She leaned over the water and squinted, her shirt still lifted up to expose her toned middle. There, going across from the left and curving down at the right half, just below her ribcage, was a somewhat jagged line, slightly darker and pinker than the rest of her skin. Where did that come from?

But that was when she remembered.

"Oh...That..."

She didn't know how she hadn't noticed that scar before; maybe it was because of the white feathers that used to grow over it, and they concealed it from vision. But now that those were gone, she could see it clearly. It wasn't an old mark; the fight with the Black Kite from overseas had only happened a month prior to now, and other than the scar, it had healed quite nicely.

"Huh...Interesting."

She wasn't particularly bothered by it; her shirt could hide it easily, and even so, it was something to show off. Maybe gloat about to fellow warriors. And it could be far worse; she could be missing an eye, like the fish monster that had tried to kill her barely a half hour ago.

Speaking of which, hadn't she openly disbelieved her claim?

"_I'll believe it when I see the scar!_"

One more thing to prove her wrong about; she grinned, then sighed.

If things went wrong at her place, she might have to repeat that whole episode all over again.

* * *

**A/N: Sooooo, how was that? I never thought I was the best at depicting fight scenes in written form, but I think this is one of my better attempts at that.**

**I know I've said this, like, too many times now, but thanks for readin'! Remember to leave a review! :D**


	19. Chapter 17: Civil War

_"...Hello?"_

_She was in a void. Nothing but darkness no matter where she turned. And nobody but herself in this vast expanse of nothingness._

_"Hellooooo?" she called again, just to make sure no-one else was there._

_To her surprise, she got an answer this time._

_"H...help..." a tiny voice squeaked. A very weak, high voice, like that of a young child, echoed across the void._

_"Hello?" she called again, hoping for another response. "Anyone there?"_

_"Help..." the voice pleaded again, somewhat stronger than before. This time, she could pinpoint the direction it was coming from; just up ahead._

_"Don't worry. Just keep talking and I'll get there!" she told them._

_"I...I need help...Please...Save me..."_

_As she drew nearer, she saw a tiny, white light. Was that the person in distress?_

_"I'm coming! I'm coming, I'll help you!"_

_She ran across the darkness, now, until she was directly in front of the tiny, glowing orb of light...What was this?_

_The light dimmed, revealing it to be..._

_A small, white inverted heart, quivering in midair where it floated._

A monster SOUL...?

_All of a sudden, the light of the SOUL began to fade, and it lowered to the invisible ground._

_"Help...!" it rasped once more._

_"No...No!"_

_She tried to grab it, but it just phased right through her hands like a ghost. In no time at all, it had disappeared beneath her feet._

_"No, you can't...no...Come back...please..." she called._

**_*But nobody came._**

_She tried to walk away, feeling defeated, only to find that she couldn't move her legs. Ginger looked down; they were tied and secured with winding vines coming up from out of the inky ground, and they began to wrap themselves higher up around her and tighten, threatening to constrict her like a hungry python._

_And a familiar-looking being popped up out of the ground._

_"...Oh, no..."_

_"You were TOO LATE," Flowey snarled, his giant, malicious grin larger and nastier than ever. "You don't get it, do you? In this world, it's kill or BE killed. And you're in TERRIBLE danger right now! And there's only one way to escape!"_

_"Tell me, or I'll chew through your vines with my own teeth if have to!" she threatened._

_"If you don't wake up, they'll get you. They'll ALL turn on you! Nobody really cares about you! Now, wake up...Wake up..."_

_"Wake up...? Is this a..."_

_"Come on...Open your eyes..."_

_Flowey's tiny, oozy voice suddenly began to change into something a bit more...harsh, yet genuine, and everything before her began to fade into white._

_"It's almost time to..."_

_The words grew more muffled, but the voice grew ever more familiar._

_"COME ON...YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME NOW!" she heard once more, before everything around her disappeared._

I won't leave you...

* * *

_..._

* * *

"HEY! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!"

"_Gyah!_"

Ginger awoke with a jolt, and leapt up onto her feet in an instant and clenched her fists, her fight-or-flight instincts kicked fully into overdrive. Her vision still swimming, she turned her head this way and that, until right when it began to clear, she saw a familiar-looking image of white and red. She blinked, and her eyes finally processed the picture properly.

"Papyrus?" she acknowledged. He had his arms crossed over his front in defense, apparently fearing that she might attack in her confusion.

"AH, YES, HUMAN!" he confirmed, his voice just as welcoming as ever. "I FIGURED YOU'D BE SOMEWHERE NEAR BY, SO I DID SOME SEARCHING, AND NAPSTABLOOK DIRECTED ME TO YOUR POSITION! RIGHT HERE, SNOOZING JUST OUTSIDE BLOOK ACRES! AT FIRST, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A ROCK, YOU WERE SO STILL, BUT WHEN I DREW NEARER, IT DID INDEED TURN OUT TO BE A DOZING HUMAN HIDING BENEATH A CLOAK!"

"You know-Oh, jeez..."

Her head and eyes suddenly felt extremely heavy, and her vision began to blur again. Her legs threatened to cave in on her if she didn't strive just a bit harder to stand.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN? YOU SUDDENLY DON'T LOOK SO WELL...MAYBE WE SHOULD WAIT TO DO THIS ANOTHER TI-"

"No, no, it's fine," she assured him, the sensation beginning to fade. "Just got a little light headed, is all. Probably had something to do with being woken up like that, heh..."

"OH...MY APOLOGIES, HUMAN. I-IF I'D KNOWN THAT WOULD HAPPEN-"

"Chill, dude. I'm fine. Just..."

She stretched her arms over her head and shoulders until her spine made an extremely satisfying ***crack,*** to which she let them go limp.

"Just gotta wake myself up a little more, that's all."

"HM...MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE SUGGESTED SPAGHETTI TO HIM..."

"To who?"

"OH! A FRIEND OF MINE CAME ALONG AND OFFERED TO HELP ROUSE YOU FROM YOUR SLUMBER! HE JUST LEFT! HIS METHOD OF DOING SO WAS...ODD, I WILL ADMIT. MOST OF THE TIME, HE WAS WHISPERING THINGS INTO YOUR EAR; THINGS LIKE 'HELP ME,' AND 'YOU'RE IN DANGER.' STRANGE, ISN'T IT?"

"A...friend?" she questioned. "What, uh...What was his name?"

"OH, HE AND I ARE CLOSELY ACQUAINTED! HE POPS IN WHENEVER I'M FEELING DOWN AND LONELY AND CHEERS ME RIGHT UP! PLEASENT LITTLE THING! ERM... 'FLOWERY,' I THINK HIS NAME IS, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

She tensed. Sans' warning from their visit to Grillby's came back to her.

"_he said that sometimes, when no-one else is around...a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery, advice, encouragement...predictions. weird, huh? someone must be using an echo flower to pull some sort of prank on him...just keep an eye out and tell me if you see anything like that, alright, kid?_"

She knew all too well the identity of the flower. The next time she saw Sans, she'd be sure to notify him about this.

"Well...I'll admit, that explains a lot."

"DOES IT, NOW? WELL, I SUPPOSE THAT'S A GOOD THING, ISN'T IT?"

"Yeah...But, anyway, you know Napstablook?"

"HOW WOULD I NOT? I SEE HIM ALMOST EVERY TIME I COME AROUND HERE! A BIT OF A RECLUSE, BUT A VERY NICE FELLOW; HE SAYS THAT HE'S A BIT INTIMIDATED BY UNDYNE, BUT HE'S ALSO ALWAYS SAYING HOW MUCH HE'D LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH HER!"

"Next time you see him, tell him that's a bad idea," she joked.

"OH, PISH-POSH! SHE'LL COME AROUND! AS A MATTER OF FACT, THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I CAME TO ROUSE YOU! IT'S JUST ABOUT TIME TO HEAD TO HER PLACE!"

"Really?" she asked, wringing her hands in a nervous fashion. "Oh, boy...Well, guess we should go on and get it over with, I guess, huh?"

"FOLLOW ME, HUMAN!"

She tailed behind the skeleton as they headed up one of the northern paths, and smoothed herself down as she did so; she wanted to at least look presentable, even if she looked better than Undyne no matter WHAT state she was in.

The sound of someone vigorously playing the piano loudened, and they approached the house; it really DID look like its owner somewhat, sporting scales, fins, sharp teeth, a tail, and even the two windows on either side of it were shaped like angry eyes.

The funny part, though, was that it somehow managed to be easier on Ginger's eyes than Undyne's face.

Despite the elaborate exterior, it was a small house; smaller, even, than Toriel's home in the Ruins, maybe by a good half.

The skeleton approached the toothy, vertical door and cordially wiped his boots on the fish-bone welcome mat. Ginger removed her messenger bag, took her cloak off again and stored it away, trading it out for her blue-and-purple-striped sweater to conceal her still somewhat damp shirt before slipping the pack back on.

It was then that she noticed Papyrus was holding something in his gloved hand.

"What'chu you got there?"

"OH. THIS?"

He showed it to her; it looked like one of the bones left over from his attacks, a little red, satin bow wrapped around its middle.

"JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR UNDYNE!"

"...Really?" she confirmed, curiously raising an eyebrow. "A bone. Wrapped in a satin bow. For you're..."

She cleared her throat.

"Female friend, huh?"

"I BRING THESE TO HER ALL THE TIME! SHE LOVES THEM!"

The sly smirk returned to the human's face yet again. And this time, he could see it, unlike all the other times it'd formed over the phone with him.

"Oh, _REEEEAALLY?_" she drawled, now out-and-out waggling her eyebrows.

"OF COURSE!" He was oblivious. "WHAT KIND OF FRIEND WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T SHOW MY APPRECIATION FOR HER?"

"'_Friend,_'" she quoted with her fingers. "Uh-huh, suuuure...Nothing more than friendship going on here."

"HUMAN, WHAT _ARE_ YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Oh, forget it," she finally deflated. "You're not gonna admit it, so I won't pry."

"I DON'T KNOW _WHAT_ YOU'RE INSINUATING, HUMAN," he said plainly. "BUT ANYWAY, I'M GOING TO SEE IF SHE'S READY. GET BEHIND ME!"

Ginger stepped behind the skeleton, easily concealed by his towering form, and Papyrus briskly rapped his knuckles on the door. The clanging piano music stopped, and just a few moments later, the teeth slid apart, and the young human tilted her head slightly to better see the captain.

Her face didn't look much different, but she looked a might smaller without her armor; she was slim, yet muscular, not unlike the human despite her superior height, and in place of the heavy panoply there was now a snug-fitting black tank top, denim leggings and a set of rusty colored boots.

"Right on the money, Papyrus!" she greeted, her jagged, toothy grin now oddly genuine. "Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?"

"OH, YOU BET I AM! BUT BEFORE WE GET STARTED, I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS! A FRIEND OF MINE WANTED TO TAG ALONG THAT I'D LIKE YOU TO MEET!"

_Uh, oh..._

"Oh, really!" she exclaimed, her smile growing even bigger. "Well...I wasn't exactly expecting that, but hey! Changes things up a bit and makes it interesting, right?"

"MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!"

"So, uh...Where are they?"

"OH, SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME! GO ON, INTRODUCE YOURSELF!" he told the guest, looking back at her and winking his eye socket. Ginger gave a shaky thumbs-up and tried to pair it with a prepared smile, but the expression came off as more of an anxious grimace.

He stepped out of the way, and the fish monster extended a murky cerulean arm to shake, her eye squinted with excitement.

"Well, hey there!" she greeted, finally opening her eye all the way. "I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting bef-"

And THEN she saw what she was really looking at, and her ecstatic smile contorted into her own, up-turned grimace, the muscles of her face and neck tightening up. She inhaled through her clenched teeth with a sharp hissing sound, and diverted her eye toward the skeleton.

His gaze darted from Undyne to Ginger, then back again. He was the only one who was genuinely smiling. She looked down at the human again; her expression was deadpan.

"Yeah, me neither."

The captain's tense face softened slightly, and she finally breathed out.

"...Why don't you two...come on in?" she strained, and they complied, Ginger refraining from making eye contact with her as she entered through the door and focusing more on her surroundings.

She hated to admit it, but the interior of the house was actually pretty cozy-looking. There was the piano she'd been banging her scaly fingers on-she was willing to bet that she could play it better than her-a door, probably leading into her bedroom, big purple-striped area rugs, a large kitchen, a small table and stools...

A giant, seven-foot sword leaning against the wall.

"Sweet Hoole..." she muttered at the sight of it, immediately shuddering at the thought of her using that to dismember her.

"OH! UNDYNE! I BROUGHT YOU SOMETHING!" he stated, showing off the ribbon-tied bone, which she took.

"Oh. Uh...Thanks, man," she said to him, rubbing the back of her head in an awkward manner. "I'll go put it with the others."

She approached one of her kitchen drawers, which turned out to be holding a vast collection of Papyrus's gifts...All bones. Ginger raised an insinuating eyebrow again.

"AND THAT'S NOT JUST ANY BONE! THAT'S THE VERY LAST ATTACK I USED IN OUR BATTLE! MY FRIEND HERE PICKED IT OUT HERSELF! ISN'T THAT RIGHT?"

"Uh...Y-yeah?"

_What? I didn't...You know what, just roll with it._

"So...You ready to get started, Papyrus?" the fish asked him.

"WHOOPSY DOOPSY! I JUST REMEMBERED!" he answered. "I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! YOU TWO HAVE FUN!"

Undyne gave him an odd look.

"Wait, but we don't-"

Too late.

The two others watched, Undyne in simple confusion and Ginger in wide-eyed bewilderment as he jumped out the window, shattering the glass and disappearing.

They looked at each other. They were alone. Together. In Undyne's house. With that giant sword sitting just a few yards away waiting to be used. The situation didn't lean in the human's favor very much.

"...So..." Ginger started, darting her eyes about and tapping her fingertips together. "...He's a cool dude, huh?"

"Zip it," Undyne snapped, her eye narrowing as she pointed a finger. "Why did you come here? To rub your victory in my face some more? To humiliate me even further?"

"...Not exactly...But now you've put the idea in my head."

"Then why'd you bother taggin' along with him in the first-...!"

She paused.

"Wait...I know what it is," she sneered, baring her teeth again. "You want to be FRIENDS, don't you? You thought that you could trip me up with your little goody two-shoes shtick and things would be all hunky dory. Isn't that right?"

"That was the idea...But it wasn't mine, it was his."

The beast glanced at the broken window where Papyrus had fled the scene from. This was HIS idea?

_Honestly, I should have expected this from the start, the way he is..._ she said to herself.

"My personal thoughts?" the human continued. "I'm standing in front of the same fishwife that tried to kill me in cold blood, and I'd rather succumb to your huge-tailed sword against the wall than call you my friend."

"Really?" she remarked, approaching the weapon and reaching for it. "Well, now YOU'VE put an idea in MY head. Don't mind if I do."

"I'd like to see you try," the human answered, reaching in her bag for her bow and arrows.

"DANG! WHAT A SHAME!"

They both halted the retrieval of their weapons to look out the window, where the skeleton was looking into the house from.

"I REALLY THOUGHT UNDYNE COULD BE FRIENDS WITH YOU, HUMAN," he fake-lamented. "...BUT I GUESS I OVERESTIMATED HER ABILITIES. IT SEEMS SHE'S NOT UP TO THE CHALLENGE. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SHE WOULDN'T SUCCEED...OH, WELL. WE TRIED!"

And he vanished from the scene yet again.

"Challenge!? Wait, Papyrus, come back-!"

She was too late to stop him.

And it was just that that Ginger realized the underlying genius of Papyrus's plan as it began to unfurl in her mind.

_...The reverse-psychology card...I LOVE it...!_

Undyne turned back toward the human, a twisted grin pasted across her face, her eye flashing an almost insane glow. Ginger rose her hands in defense and leaned back.

"Ha...Ha ha. He thinks I'm not up for it? He thinks I can't make friends with YOU?"

"...Apparently?"

"HA! That's a laugh!...Listen up, human," she growled, pointing again. "He's wrong. I can make friends with anyone. ANYONE! ESPECIALLY some wimpy loser like you! Now listen here. We're not just gonna be friends."

"We're not...?"

"Oh, no. We're gonna be-"

The beast grabbed Ginger by the shirt and drew her right up to her own face, just inches away, and the human could see the insane flash in her single eye glow brighter.

"-BESTIES."

"Too close."

She didn't even hear her.

"I'm gonna make you like me SO damn much, I'll be the only thing you THINK of anymore! I'll be in your head! All. Day! LONG! Fuhuhuhuhu…" she snickered, letting go of the human and clenching her fists. "It's the _**PERFECT**_ REVENGE!"

"Well, now you just spoiled your plan."

"DOESN'T MATTER! I'LL MAKE IT WORK NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU THINK YOU KNOW!"

_We'll see about that..._

"Ha ha! Heh heh, heh heh...Heh...Well, then! Why don't you have a seat at the table right over there?" she offered, cordially motioning with her arms towards said table.

Ginger, though still tense, complied, sitting down on the stool and resting her arms on the table, resting her elbows on it and putting her head on her folded hands, trying to ignore the apprehensive pit forming in her stomach.

It definitely wasn't hunger this time.

"Comfy? Good. Now! Can I get you something to drink?"

"Uh..."

"I take that as a 'yes'! Hold that thought."

She dashed to the kitchen and lined up several different boxes and bottles along the stove and countertops. Ginger could see writing on the labels, but it was too far away from where she was seated to make out clearly.

"'Kay! All set! What'd you like?"

"Um..." she hesitated, moving her legs to get up and examine her options. "Let me have a loo-"

*_**SLAM!**_*

One moment, she was getting up to take a look at the things on the counter, and the next moment, the table had been completely cracked in half by the spear Undyne had thrown at it. Ginger's arms were thrown up in front of herself in a defensive position, and she stared at the fish monster, wide-eyed.

"HEY! DON'T MOVE FROM THAT SEAT! YOU'RE THE GUEST! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO LIFT A FINGER! SIT DOWN AND ENJOY YOURSELF!"

Ginger couldn't emit anything coherent, she was in such a state of shock.

"Erm..." the monster uttered. "How about you just point to what you want with the spear, huh?"

"Like hagsmire, I am! And what? Take MORE damage!?" she spat.

"Oh, heh...I see where you're getting at. No, as long as you grab it by the handle, you should be fine."

"And why should I trust-"

"**JUST TAKE THE DAMN THING.**"

She didn't argue back, but shot Undyne a poisonous glare as she hesitantly grabbed the length of the spear in her hand.

It actually didn't deal any damage. It felt strange in her grasp, though; it was a solid object, but at the same time, the magic energy that composed it felt as though it would only hold itself together as long as its maker allowed.

"Good! Now, you know what to do!"

The human hissed out a sigh, her attention first diverting to the yellow bottle set on the stove. She squinted at it; it turned out, the bottle itself wasn't that sickly yellow color, but rather the liquid inside of it.

"Oh, what, the soda?...Actually..." Undyne noted, scanning over her houseguest's seemingly disgusted expression. "You don't seem too enticed by it, yourself. Well, guess what!? I hate the stuff too! It's so sweet it makes me gag. It rots your teeth, it rots your brain, it even rots your fighting spirit!"

"...Then why do you have it in your house?" Ginger asked.

"Huh? Oh, well, I..."

Her cerulean facial scales developed a somewhat violet hint with all the blood rushing to them. She looked everywhere but at the human.

"...For other people, in case they like it."

Ginger smirked.

"For, uh...Papyrus, maybe?" she guessed.

"Well, I guess; he doesn't think the stuff's that bad, I don't think."

"Mmmm-_hm_..." she finished, holding back a laugh. As much as she disliked Undyne, it was a rip making sly fun of the situation. "Well, what's in the green container?"

"That's the hot chocolate. Not as sweet as the soda, so I can take it. On it!"

She went over to the container and screwed the white cap off of it...Only to find that it had nothing inside but a few unusable, powdery crumbles.

"Oh...It's empty," she remarked.

"Oh..."

"Ah, I remember why I never got anymore. Asgore kept getting the marshmallows stuck in his beard. And it was a hassle to work with anyway."

"...The king?"

"That's right!" she confirmed, displaying obviously ingenuine pleasure. "You get a gold star! Eh...Not literally. But anyways, there ain't none of that."

The human sighed; was she doing this all on purpose just to annoy her?

"Then what's in the box?"

"Tea; got PLENTY of that stuff, that's for sure. You want me to go ahead and whip some up?"

"...Whatever. As long as we can get this over with."

"Oh, COME _OOOOOON,_ buddy!" she exclaimed, plastering a huge, fake smile on her face. "This is FUN, RIGHT? You're having fun, RIGHT?"

"What do you think?"

Undyne finally deflated with a low grumble of a sigh; as much as she despised the human who had spat on her pride and rubbed her victory in Hotland right into her face, she agreed with her; this wasn't going in a favorable direction, and it was obvious that both of them couldn't wait for it to be over. Ginger's spear dissipated into thin air, and she set everything up on the stove; filled the kettle with water, got the mugs ready with the bags, and brought the sugar bowl over.

"Heh...Uh...It'll take a minute or two for the water to boil. How much sugar, huh, pal?"

"First off, don't call me 'pal.' None of this is going to work. Give it up. Stop. If you're accomplishing anything, you're making me want to get out of here even more."

"...I don't appreciate your pessimism," the fish snarled, a fake smile still pasted across her ugly face. "I'll have you know, I'd beat you to a bloody pulp right now if I didn't think Papyrus was off watching us from somewhere. And if he's the one who brought you here, that can only mean one thing; he's finally made another friend in this dump. As much as I want you dead and your body skewered on my sharpest spears, and as much as I told him that you're a danger to everyone down here and that he should stay as far away from you as possible, it's clear that he still made friends with you anyway...And if I kill you, it'll break his fragile little heart."

Her gnarled tone softened with her last sentence.

"And I'm not going to do that to him."

"Do you see now, why I bothered saving you from dying of dehydration in Hotland?" the human remarked. "Not for your sake. For his."

Undyne didn't say anything in response, but she did give the human a strange, angry, albeit somewhat agreeing look.

"...And second."

"What now?"

"...No sugar."

"...Hm. Fitting for someone like you. Heh heh..."

"I assume you take yours the same?"

"I'll have you know I have my tea with a good half a spoonful of sugar!" the fish snapped back. "And considering the implications, that means I'm sweeter than you'll ever be! I'm the sweetest, most humble person anyone could ever hope to be friends with, and you should be GRATEFUL!"

"Oh, the irony..." Ginger sneered.

"Wha...You. You MADE me walk into that!"

"Sort of? I don't know, but you just humiliated yourself pretty badly."

Undyne's face began to grow red with fury, and Ginger could have sworn she heard her fuming...

But the whistling sound turned out to be coming from the tea kettle on the stove instead. The monster turned to see the steam rising up out of it.

"Oh. Heh...Water's done! Now it just has to steep some!" she announced, another toothy grimace of a smile spreading across her face. She grabbed the pot and poured the hot water into the two mugs over the teabags, the essence of the dried flower petals steeping into the liquid, swirling about as they mixed in with the water. Soon enough, the liquid in the mugs had gone from crystal clear to a deep shade of yellow, and the sweet aroma wafted through the small house. The ugly creature brought the mugs over to the broken table, placing one before the human, then bringing her own to the other side of the table and sitting down with a bit of a huff.

"Careful with that. It's hot."

Ginger shrugged in acknowledgement of her warning, then looked at the mug; it was blue, like the fish's scales, albeit somewhat brighter, and without the greenish tint. The angle of the snapped table made the tea inside of it threaten to spill out.

"It's not that hot, ya huge baby! Just drink it already!"

Undyne's sudden outburst snapped the human out of her daze. She looked up to see that the fish was taking a good, long swig of her own drink to prove her point...only to cough and breathe in a long, unsteady breath through her open mouth after she swallowed it, bringing a hand up to her neck.

"Burned your throat, didn't you?"

"Shut up," she croaked.

The houseguest swirled the drink around in her mug for a few moments, blowing on it until steam ceased to rise from it. Finally, she took a cautious sip...

It was still just a bit hot, but other than that it wasn't half bad. It was quite a bit different from the Sea Tea that Gerson made; it was milder, not quite as earthy, lacking the salty hint, less bitter...And just a tad bit more sweet.

"I'll admit, you're good at something."

"It's pretty good, huh? Nothing but the best for my _absolutely_ PRECIOUS friend, right?"

Ginger rolled her eyes, swishing her drink around in the cup to cool it just a bit more.

"Ha...But, anyway. It's, uh...kinda funny you chose that tea."

She paused from bringing the mug up to her mouth and directed her gaze towards her.

"Why?"

"Golden Flower tea..." the fish monster mused. "That's Asgore's favorite kind. In a weird way, you're actually starting to remind me of him."

"Because we should both be feared and respected for our authority over our people?"

"NO, YOU IDIOT!" she corrected, slamming her open palms against the table, breaking it even more. "You're both TOTAL WEENIES!"

"I'm a total weenie. After confronting you fully armed and loaded, engaging you in battle, and winning when you collapsed from heat exhaustion...That makes sense."

"You ran away the first chance you got!"

"Because I KNEW I couldn't last too long against you without stopping!" she defended. "I might be a seasoned warrior, but you've still got a lot more experience than me. Let alone more raw strength. That wasn't cowardice. That was tactical. And it worked."

"So, you ADMIT you're a scrawny weakling!"

"I'm not even going to argue with you anymore..."

"Can't think of a comeback, huh? Pathetic...Just like him."

As much as Ginger would have liked to pretend she wasn't even there, she found herself lending an ear.

"You know...I was a pretty hotheaded kid. One day, to prove to everyone that I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore head on, without any warning...Emphasis on 'tried'. Little five-foot me couldn't land a single blow on him! Which was a surprise, considering how many other kids I beat up back then...Including OLDER ones. And what made it even worse? The whole time, he was just playing the defensive card; he didn't fight me back at all!"

"...And HOW old were you then?"

"Like, twelve or something. Pushing thirteen, maybe..."

_...My age, huh?_

"Jeez...Hyperactive, much? And I thought my brother was bad..."

"Can it," she snapped, downing another gulp of her own tea, refusing to acknowledge that it was too hot to put in her mouth without scalding some part of it.

"So when I finally stopped, HE apologized and said something goofy. 'Excuse me,' he says. 'Do you want to know how to beat me?' Well, as you might expect, I answered in the positive, and from that day on, he trained me for the battlefield...Fast forward a few years. Just before I was finally approved for the Royal Guard. One day, during practice, I finally knocked him down. I never thought I'd actually do it. I thought I'd feel proud of myself, but I felt...bad. It was weird...But him? He was beaming. I'd never seen someone more proud to get their butt kicked. Heh...Long story short, that was what got me into the Royal Guard...And now I'm at the very top of it! And now I'M the one training wimpy dorks to fight!...Like, uh, Papyrus, you know?"

Ginger was in the middle of another sip of her tea when she rose her head at the mention of the skeleton. She swallowed slowly, still eyeing the fish, then put her drink down on the cracked table before resting her head on her folded hands again, both of her eyebrows slightly raised and a tiny indication of a smirk on her face.

"...And how's that coming along?"

"Well...To be honest with you, I, uh...don't think I can ever let Papyrus into the Royal Guard. Do NOT tell him I said that! It'd crush him! It's just...The problem isn't that he's weak. Because he's not. In fact, he's actually pretty freakin' tough! It's...He's just so innocent and nice, you know? I mean, look. He was supposed to capture you. MAYBE kill you. But look what happened. He ended up becoming FRIENDS with you...And then he had the audacity AND the guts to lie to me about it, apparently...And I actually fell for it. I'm not sure whether to be furious or impressed with him...Put me down for furiously impressed, I guess. But anyway, that's what he did. I could never send someone like him into battle! He'd..."

She calmed some again, looking down in a somewhat depressed manner.

"...He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds," she finished. "...So, that's why I started teaching him how to cook, you know? So, maybe he could do something else with his life...Something that isn't as likely to get him killed out there, you know?"

"...You really care about him, don't you?"

Undyne raised her head to look at the human now; her remark wasn't snappy or sneery, rather surprisingly genuine.

"I guess...that's the one thing we both have in common, huh?" she admitted. "We both care about him a lot. Look, he might be a giant, naïve, dork, but...he's the best friend I ever could have asked for. And God save the poor bastard who tries to do anything to hurt him. That includes you, ya hear, human!?"

"Wow...You really do care about him."

"Yeah...Yeah, I do."

She looked up at the human again. For a brief flicker of a second, there was a spark of respect between the two opposing forces.

...But it was gone as soon as the fish monster caught sight of a sly grin growing wider across the human's face, and she waggled her eyebrows yet again.

"You know," Ginger said in a teasing tone of voice. "He's always telling me how much he likes you, too. And how much I remind him of you...He won't admit to anything, so it looks like I'm gonna have to ask you."

"...Ask me what?" the captain asked skeptically.

"Have you considered, uh...kicking it up a notch with him?"

"Huh...?...Wait. You mean-"

"Mmmm-HMMM," she confirmed, letting her sly smirk show a few teeth, making it look even more cynical. Undyne's eye widened in disgust.

"ME? And PAPYRUS? Good GOD. That's...It's not like that."

"That's what they all say."

"Well, do they all say 'I have my eye on someone else'?"

"Aw, Glaux _dangit,_" the human uttered. "He's gonna be disappointed, you know? All those bones he gave you were all given in vain."

"No. He's not. Because he already knows about it. Even if I HATE that he does because he teases me about it."

"Ugh...Whatever. I, personally, see a lot of chemistry."

The last word make Undyne's cerulean face go somewhat puce again.

"...You've got a sick sense of humor, you know that?" she retorted. "I get a better kick out of Sans' brand of humor is better than yours. Which is saying something. You obviously don't know anything about me and my interests."

The fish tipped her mug up and let what was left in it flow down into her mouth. Ginger glanced off to the side, thinking of a way to get the verbal upper hand again.

"Maybe not a lot, but, uh..."

The mention of San's brand of humor-paired with the sudden urge to watch _Jurassic Park III _again when she next got the chance-put another idea in her head...

"I, uh...do know what you're favorite kind of dinosaur is."

Undyne failed to swallow her tea properly, and had she not raised a tight fist to her lips in time, would have spat it out all over the place. Her now bulging eye threatened to pop right out of her skull, and her blush went from dull puce to bright magenta in an instant. Ginger stared, obviously not having expected this reaction.

"...What?"

She shrank back as the monster gave her an odd, analyzing look. It was almost as though...she realized that the human didn't know something the captain thought she had. Undyne's conveyed look of shock softened some, and the blush on her face slowly faded as she spoke.

"...You do, huh?" she asked. "Well, then...What IS my favorite kind of dinosaur?"

"A..._Tea_ Rex. Heh heh heh..."

"Oh. Heh...Yeah...That. Spending too much time around Sans, huh?"

"You can never spend too much time around him. Heh heh..."

There was a period of silence between them after that. It wasn't long until the monster's eye widened in realization.

"...Wait. Papyrus...His cooking lesson...He was supposed to have that RIGHT NOW!"

"Oh, no. Guess he shouldn't have disappeared like that. I'll go-"

"SCREW IT! HE'S NOT HERE, SO GUESS WHAT!? YOU'RE GONNA HAVE IT FOR HIM!"

"...What."

"NOTHING has brought Papyrus and I closer together than cooking! If you have his lesson for him, THIS MIGHT JUST WORK OUT!"

"Undyne, that's not-HEY!"

Before she could even process the whole situation, the fish monster had her by the arm and was dragging her over to the kitchen, sweeping all of the drink containers onto the floor to clear the countertops.

"Fuhuhuhuh...Scared yet! This is gonna make us the BEST OF FRIENDS!"

"UNDYNE, YOU'RE CUTTING OFF THE BLOOD CIRCULATION TO MY ARM!"

Finally, she let go, then flung the fridge open and returned to the counter with an armful of vegetables-along with a stray banana-dumping them on the counter.

"Let's start off with the sauce! Envision these vegetables as your worst enemy, then pound 'em to a pulp with your fists!"

"Lady, you're sprinkin' deranged! How is this-"

"JUST **DO IT!**" she interrupted. "OR ARE YOU A WEAKLING!?"

"...So that's how you want to play..."

The human clenched her fists, then sent them down on the tomatoes, splattering the red juice of them all over the place like the blood of the enemy she saw them as.

"...How was that, huh?"

"EPIC! THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE! NOW! My turn...!"

The monster drew her own fist back and sent it flying into the pile of vegetables. More of the juices came splattering across the room, and upon the impact, one of the tomatoes spat its innards right into Undyne's face, painting the blue scales red.

"...Uh...We'll just scrape this into a bowl later, you hear? For the time being..."

She faced the stove, pulling out the spaghetti box and putting a pot of water on the burner.

"We're gonna take care of the noodles! Aw, homemade noodles are the best! BUT I JUST BY STORE-BRAND! THEY'RE THE CHEAPEST! _NGAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!_"

"STOP MAKING MY EARS BLEED!"

"I'M SORRY! WHEN I FELL PASSIONATE ABOUT SOMETHING, I GET **LOUD! HA! **Ah...Uh, just go ahead and put them in them in the pot, 'kay"

Ginger brought a hand up to her ear as she grabbed the box of uncooked spaghetti and tore it open.

"...All of it?"

"Every last bit!"

She complied, dumping the noodles into the pot, then double-checking to make sure none of them were stuck in any of the corners...which there weren't.

"Awesome! Now take this!" the captain hollered, shoving a spoon into her face.

"Time to stir the pasta! As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir it...THE BETTER IT IS! Show me what those sticks you have for arms can do!"

"With pleasure," the human snarled, grasping the spoon even harder and plunging the end of it into the pot, hastily circling it around.

"Is that the best you can do! Come on! Stir harder."

And she did.

"Harder, darnit!"

She wasn't giving up.

"HAAARDEEER!"

Now she was circling the spoon four times every second. It was the best she could do, and although she didn't say it, Undyne actually noticed that Ginger's arms weren't exactly sticks for someone her age. Even still, however...

"UGH! Just let me do it!"

She grabbed the spoon out of the human's hand and tossed it aside, letting it clatter onto the floor, and she summoned another spear and bashed in the pot with it to further mix the spaghetti. Although it was more successful at destroying the pot more than it was at stirring the pasta. But she didn't seem to care.

"Alright! That's the stuff! And now, human! For the final step! Time to turn up the heat!"

"...Where's the firewood?" the human asked, glancing about in search of fuel for a fire.

"DEAR, GOD! IT'S LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A STOVETOP BEFORE!"

"Because I HAVEN'T!"

"What!? JEEZ, you're stupid! But if I can't give you brains, I can at least get you pumped! Crank up the knob! Make the steam rise! Let the stovetop symbolize your passion! Let your hopes and dreams turn themselves into a raging flame! Crank that baby to the right and don't hold anything back!"

Ginger complied, albeit somewhat hesitantly, and turned the knob on the stove towards the right. She saw the black burner beneath the damaged pot began to glow red.

"I think that'll do-"

"THAT'S PATHETIC! Make it hotter!"

So the human kept turning the dial towards the left; now there were orange flames licking the bottom of the pot.

"Come on! Hotter!"

The flames rose higher.

"Hotter!"

"Now they turned a fierce yellow, and rose as high as the pot.

"HOTTER, DARNIT!"

Ginger could feel the intense heat pouring off of the stove fire as they completely swallowed the pot of spaghetti. She caught a tiny glimpse of blue among the red and yellow flames as they rose even higher and grew even hotter.

Yet it still wasn't enough for Undyne.

"**HOOOOOOTTEEEEEERRR!**"

The flame was the size of a small bonfire now, and the human felt like she'd been drawn right into the flames of hagsmire. Something inside the oven, just beneath the stovetop, made an odd noise.

"...Wait," the fish monster realized. "That's too-"

They heard something snap, and despite having never used an oven before in her life, and not having any idea how they worked, Ginger knew what was about to happen.

And she dove into the corner in front of the fridge and ducked for cover just in time. The entire house was washed in blinding light from the explosion in an instant, and a wave of heat, nearly as intense as the heat rising from the magma rivers of Hotland, spread throughout the entire area.

When the light finally dimmed and the hellish heat wave dulled, Ginger unshielded her face and looked about.

Everything was an absolute wreck.

The electricity in the house had gone out, and almost everything was on fire to some degree; the countertops, the stove, the rugs, the vegetables they'd planned on using. The only things that looked salvageable to a degree were Undyne's massive sword and her piano.

She unsteadily stood to her feet, her eyes now glued onto the fish woman standing at the stove, who hadn't reacted quickly enough and ended up taking the explosion head on. Her scaly face was seared to a crisp, and the air about her smelled, predictably, like burnt fish. Nonetheless, she barely even looked stunned.

"Ah...Well...I guess it's no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking so much, huh?"

Ginger didn't say anything; she just ogled at the creature, dumbfounded as to how she was still alive from the blast, let alone standing and acting like it was nothing.

"...So, now what?" she continued. "Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets? Card games?"

"..."

Undyne finally noted the human's face; it was a contorted mixture of confusion, shock, disgust, and contempt...It was pointless.

"...Oh, who am I kidding?" the monster groaned, bringing a hand to her face and massaging the space between her eyes. "I can't FORCE us to be friends. Some people just don't get along, no matter how much they have in common or how much they try to make it work. That's just the way it is...Sorry to let you down, Papyrus..." she mumbled, still convinced that he was somewhere near, watching the events unfold. "...As for you, I...understand if you feel the same way about me."

"...It looks like we've finally reached an agreement...To disagree," she finally answered.

"Well, if we can't be friends, then...that's fine. Because if we're not..."

All of a sudden, Undyne conjured up a spear in her hands, the sadistic, toothy smile returning to her face.

"Then that means I can destroy you without regret! PAPYRUS, COVER YOUR EYES!"

The human gasped, then reached for her bow, only for the monster to wave the spear in her direction as soon as she reached her hand back there, threatening to plunge it right through her unguarded chest if she dared to inch her hand any closer to her weapon.

"I've been defeated...My house is in shambles..." the beast criticized herself as she stepped forward, her smaller opponent backing away. "I couldn't even befriend you. Well, that's it. I don't care if you're my guest anymore. I don't care if you're Papyrus's friend. I'm going to end this once and for all! One final rematch! ALL OUT ON BOTH SIDES! IT'S THE ONLY CHANCE I HAVE TO REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE! SO COME ON!"

She finally lowered her spear, giving the human the fair chance to claim her own signature weapon. Ginger realized this, then pulled her bow and an arrow to strike with.

"...Hit me with your best shot!" the fish snarled.

And she fired away.

Undyne ducked beneath the arrow right when it whizzed by, and it embedded itself within the wall. The human didn't look so surprised that she missed.

"That was pathetic!" she screeched, getting right up into her houseguest's face. "Put that thing down and fight me like the trained warrior you claim to be! I WON'T BACK DOWN UNTIL YOU-"

She was interrupted by a sudden blur and knock against her face. She looked back up at the human; her arm was held back, and her palm open.

"...What." she uttered. "...Did you just slap me?"

"Why? Did I finally knock some sense into you?"

"You...open-handedly slapped me across the face like a parent correcting some bratty kid...When you're COMPLETELY capable of throwing a punch."

"...Do you honestly think Papyrus wants to see his best friend get beat down?"

"...Heh...You know what?"

Undyne let her spear fade away, then stood tall again.

"...I actually don't want to hurt you, either. For the same reason...Don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts, but...The way you hit me just now, it...reminds me of him. You just can't muster the intent to kill me, can you? As much a I hate to say it, you're not just the wimpy loser I thought you were..."

"...So, you're finally coming to your senses, huh."

"Yeah. You're a wimpy loser with a...sort of big heart, I guess...! Even if you don't show it. Heh...You know, you're starting to remind me of someone else, now."

The human raised an eyebrow again in curiosity.

"...I was like that when I was your age. I gotta keep my fighter's physique, but...Whenever someone needs me, I'll be there for them, you know what I'm saying?"

"Yes...I know what you mean," she answered with a small nod.

"...Heh...If it weren't for him, I'd have beat you senseless long ago...But regardless, that doesn't necessarily mean I should, you know? Look at what you've managed down here. So many people are siding with you. You've made so many friends. Not just Papyrus, but SO many other monsters are rooting for you to get out of here. If I killed you, then...What would I be doing to them? Wouldn't I be the one crushing all of their hopes and dreams, then?...And now that I think about it, what'd that do for MY reputation!?" she realized. "Look...From where this is going, it seems like you and Asgore are destined to fight. But, knowing him...he probably won't want to, you know? Talk to him, ya hear me? I'm sure he'll let you go back home. At some point, another human's gonna fall down here...one that won't be quite so eager to make friends. And I'll take THAT one out and take their SOUL instead. Makes sense, right?"

"...Fair point."

"Thought it was. Oh, and if you DO decide to hurt Asgore for some reason," the monster continued. "I'll take the six human SOULs myself, cross the Barrier, hunt you down and BEAT THE LIVING _**SHIT**_ OUT OF YOU."

"That won't happen," Ginger promised, raising her arms in defense again.

"So...for the time being, I guess you could say that we should at least not kill each other. We don't have to be chummy, but...It's for their sake. Not ours."

She hesitated for a moment, then finally extended her scaly arm with an exasperated huff, an embarrassed hint of violet returning to her face.

"Whadaya say, punk? Truce?"

The human rose her arm, also somewhat reluctant to meet the fish halfway, but this would at least maintain order.

"...For now."

She met Undyne's open hand with her own, and they shook like civilized folk...Although both of them discreetly wiped their hands on their pants to rid themselves of the other's physical contamination as soon as they finished.

"...Now, let's get the hell out of this burning house."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Well, uh...I guess that was kinda fun?" the beast decided, dragging her piano out the door and bringing it a safe distance away from the flaming house. A few of the music sheets that'd been resting on top of it fluttered to the ground.

"...I've experienced worse," Ginger admitted. "Not that I'd do this again, though...How's the piano?"

"A little seared in the back, but still in good shape. As long as it still works..."

She grunted as she lowered it onto the ground.

"So, since this place isn't exactly habitable anymore, I'm gonna go crash at Sans and Papyrus's for now. You?"

"Well, I guess I'll be headed to Hotland soon. I'll need to catch another break, though; this was a lot more, uh...draining than I thought it'd be."

"Gave you a workout, huh? Well, guess who's still up and at it, ya wimp? I think I'll go challenge Papyrus to another snow-wrestling match when I get there, get my blood pumpin' some more. Ha! Oh, and one more thing; if you're goin' to Hotland, you'll have to pass through the lab. That's where Dr. Alphys lives. You might have a run-in with her, so just a heads up. Don't know what she'll make of you comin' over unannounced."

"Dr. Alphys...I've heard some things about her from Papyrus. You know her?"

"Well, yeah, I know her. DUH."

Ginger noticed the puce tint returning to her face, but she decided to ignore it.

"What's she like, huh?"

"Well, she's super smart, I'll tell you that. You know the fridge I had in there? She modified it so that it HEATS up food instead of makin' it cold. Monster food doesn't spoil, so it can be kept hot for as long as you want and it never goes bad. Pretty genius idea, ain't it? She also knows a lot about your history; shows me human history movies and books all the time. As much as I hate you humans, I got to admit; your history's WAY cooler than ours down here. At least you guys have cool animations to show it instead of boring plaques hung up all over Waterfall! UGH! Makes me jealous! But I digress. We were talkin' bout Alphys, right?"

"So, she's a brainiac, huh? Interesting...What's she look like?"

"Looks? Uh...Well, she's short stuff, I'll give you that. Shorter than you, even. Buck teeth, bright eyes, sort of, uh...round."

She scratched the back of her head in an embarrassed fashion.

"Heh...She's really cute," she mumbled, too low for the human to fully hear.

"What'd you say?"

"I said she's really cool! She's awesome! Aside from Papyrus, she and I are, like, besties!"

"Oh...Well. Do you think she'll, like...try to kill me?"

"I don't...think so? You'll see when you get there, I guess. Seein' her try to kill you WOULD be pretty entertaining to watch, though."

"Ugh...Don't you have to go to Snowdin?"

"Aw, shut your mouth. I challenge you to an arm wrestle next time we meet, ya hear?" she retorted as she turned away.

"You're on. These STICKS I have for arms can do more than just throw punches!"

"We'll see about that!"

"And one more thing," Ginger added. "For the record..."

She lifted her shirt up to expose her abdomen, displaying the curved, pink line going diagonally across it.

"...Where'd you get that?"

"On the surface; several score miles from this place. I got pretty lucky. If my opponent had dug just an inch deeper, my intestines would've spilled out onto the ground. Killed that son of a cuss just a few moments later. Went right for the throat, broke the skin then tore it out with my own hands...Now that you've seen it, do you believe it?"

"...That's actually pretty brutal," Undyne admitted.

"And then I smeared his blood of my face and sounded off the rebel yell."

"Okay, THAT part's complete and utter bullshit."

"Yeah, it is...Just wanted to see if you were smart enough to tell."

"Ah, shuddup. I'm out of here. See ya later, punk!"

And the fish monster bolted off, bound for the Riverperson's ferry.

"Hey, next time, you have to tell me how you lost lefty!"

"Sure! I'll tell you when hell freezes over, okay!?" Undyne called back.

"The hagsfiends are gonna need some scarves, then! HA!"

The Captain of the Royal Guard disappeared, and Ginger let her legs give way, letting herself drop onto the ground and wiping the sweat from her brow; Hotland could wait just a little while longer. For now, she had to catch another break. Even the more than hour-long nap she'd had earlier hadn't prepared her for this.

...At least I'm still in one piece," she grumbled.

She eyed the piano; she was a bit tempted to try and play it, but she might end up stuck there for longer than need be if she tried to teach herself how to use it, let alone try to produce a better-sounding noise than what Undyne made when she played it.

So she did something else instead.

She dialed Papyrus.

"_YOU HAVE REACHED THE GREAT PAPYRUS! MAY I ASK WHO IS CALLING?_""

"..."

"_...HELLO? IS ANYONE-_"

"**Alan.**"

Laughter. That joke would NEVER get old.

"I, ah..." she huffed, her sides cramping up from all the cackling. "Just called to give you a heads up; Undyne's on her way to your place. Are you, uh...there?"

"_I'VE BEEN HOME FOR A BIT! SORRY IF YOU FEEL LIKE I LEFT YOU IN THE DUST; I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO INTERFERE ANY MORE THAN I HAD TO. AND YOU SOUND LIKE YOU'RE IN ONE PIECE! DID EVERYTHING GO AS WE HOPED?_"

"Uh...Not exactly, but I guess it could have been worse. I'll be heading to Hotland here in a little while. I need another break."

"_ANOTHER ONE? DIDN'T YOU JUST HAVE A NAP BEFORE WE WENT THERE?_"

"I did. But even that wasn't enough for what was to come."

"_DEAR ME...WELL, SHE CAN GIVE YOU A BIT OF A WORKOUT AT TIMES, NO?_"

"That's exactly what she said..."

"_SHE'S ON HER WAY HERE? SHE'S NOT, UH...MAD, IS SHE?"_

"At you? I don't think so. But she did say something about 'snow-wrestling,' or something like that. Don't know what that is."

"_OH, NO...I DO! I HATE YO CUT THIS SHORT, BUT IT SEEMS I'M GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE CERTAIN PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES BEFORE SHE GETS HERE SO SHE DOESN'T END UP WRECKING ANYTHING...OR ANYONE, FOR THAT MATTER! HOW ABOUT YOU CALL ME BACK WHEN YOU GET TO PAST THE LAB WHERE DR. ALPHYS LIVES?_"

"Sounds like a plan. Looks like I'm probably going to meet her, you know?"

"_OH, REALLY? WOWIE! SHE'S A LOT DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND UNDYNE...BUT THEY STILL GET ALONG VERY WELL, YOU KNOW? NYEH HEH HEH HEH..._"

"Hey. Now YOU'RE at it with the snarky laughter? What's up, huh?"

"_OH...NOTHING, LIKE YOU ALWAYS SAY,_" he answered.

"...Touché, Papyrus."

"_WELL, SEE YOU LATER! I'VE GOT TO GO MAKE SURE THE COUCH IS SECURELY FASTENED TO THE FLOOR. NYOO HOO HOO HOO...!_"

There was a beeping sound, and he was gone. Ginger put in another number, just on a whim, hoping she'd answer.

One ring...Two...Three...

***Nobody picked up.**

"...Come on, Toriel. I at least want you to know I'm okay so far," she moaned. But there was nothing she could do about it but hope she'd answer back someday. She let the rest of her form fall onto the ground, and she looked up at the twinkling rocks in the dirt ceiling. It was a relaxing image...which was good for what was to come.

Pretty soon, she would have a laboratory to go to.

And as much as her nerves were acting up, she was still ever filled with **DETERMINATION**.

* * *

**A/N:**

**...**

**...What? **

**What are you looking at me like that for?**

_**PSHHH.**_

**Yeah, I ship Undyrus! Sprinking normies...**

**People can have different preferences, rite?**

**...AAAAAAAnywaaaays, I think that turned out the way I wanted it to...Albeit EXTREMELY LONG. What's the number of words in this chapter?...**

**...**

**...**

**...My God.**

**It's...**

**IT'S...**

**It's over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!(old joke, i know)**

**Oh, by the way, I added a bit more to this chapter as of the beginning of 2020. More specifically, the part about Ginger semi-bragging about her scar.**

**Well, if everyone's still here, hope you're enjoying so far anyway! :D**


	20. Chapter 18: It's a Small Jurassic World

"Tra la la...I hear spiders have a favorite food...It's spiders."

"Oh...Yeah. You're right. Ah...Have YOU ever eaten a spider?"

"I cannot say I have," the boat driver replied. "Have you?"

"Yes. In a donut, at least...The Spider Donuts aren't actually half bad, you know? They're technically dessert foods, but the bits and pieces of the spiders are sort of crunchy and savory, and it actually complements the sweetness pretty well. I got one in the Ruins before I came on out of there! Unfortunately, the doors only open from the inside, so I guess I won't be going back for more."

"Fret not. I also hear that there is another Spider Bake Sale location somewhere in Hotland."

"Yo, really!? Wow...Thanks for the info."

"It is a favorite thing of mine to do, giving people hints of advice...What has become of your cloak, might I ask?"

"It's in my pack; I doubt I'll be needing it where I'm going, you know what I mean?"

"Ah, yes...It'd be an enslaved oven in Hotland...And here we are."

The Riverperson's boat came to a stop just south of the lab entrance, and she stepped up onto the dry ground...Much dryer than the riverbanks of Snowdin and Waterfall.

"Come again any time you need. Tra la la..."

She gave them a grateful nod, then headed up the north path. Ginger found herself at an intersection; in the middle of it was a Save Point, and she ran up to it to brush her hand through the shimmering star.

***Hotland-Laboratory Entrance**

***File Saved**

Just north of the Save Point were two more burly-looking monsters, clad in armor and blocking off the path leading farther north. They perked up when they saw her.

"Hey, short stuff." one of them alerted her; he had long, furry grey ears, not unlike those of a hare, protruding from his head, though his face was hidden behind a helmet. "Just lettin' you know, the path to the elevator's off limits for now; Captain Undyne says there's a human in the area, and...well...even if the elevators aren't working right anyway, we gotta stand guard to make sure it doesn't get to New Home through there somehow."

"Uh...Right," she acknowledged, flashing a thumbs up. They were oblivious...And hopefully, they'd STAY oblivious.

"You're gonna have to go the long way," the other one, who had a more dragonesque look about him, added. "That's the way it is, right, bro?"

"Heh...Yep. Sure is."

"Just don't get heatstroke or anything out there, lil' dudette."

"Eh...Don't worry about me, fellas. Just passin' through the lab. Carry on!"

They maintained their position, and Ginger turned eastward again.

_...Don't worry about me...Please. Not at all._

She sluggishly approached the giant, imposing lab, the heat tempting her to go even slower. She wasn't sure how well this would go over.

Most of what she'd heard about Dr. Alphys so far was somewhat obscure. Supposedly, she had a brilliant mind; the puzzle in Snowdin didn't exactly give a favorable outcome, but Undyne's "hot fridge" wasn't half bad an idea, considering the fact the monster food didn't ever spoil. No need to reheat, and no risk of burning or blowing up anything, like what happened not so long ago at her house...Maybe she was as clever as they said.

She knew that and the fact that the doctor supposedly watched kids' shows, that is.

But just because Alphys was smart and watched cartoons a lot didn't mean she'd be welcoming towards humans. And she wasn't exactly sure what she'd look like, as Undyne's description of her only said so much, seeing how much monsters varied in appearance down here. She was supposedly short, rotund, bright-eyed and buck-toothed. Upon picturing something with these traits, the first image Ginger formulated in her mind was...

Something akin to a porcupine.

Quite a few of the monsters did resemble animals to an extent; she'd seen goats, rabbits, deer, dogs, a wise old tortoise, and many more. Porcupines had been the next animal to pop into her mind with the description the captain had given.

One thing was for sure, though, the human was about to find out how close her guess was.

She drew ever closer to the automatic doors, and they slid open when she drew near enough, revealing the darkness of the lab inside.

_Oh, boy..._

Ginger cautiously stepped inside; it wasn't as dark as it was at the abyss in Waterfall, but it was still dark. The lab walls were some shade of green, and the quiet whirring of machinery filled the atmosphere with an eerie ambiance. She continued...

And she passed a very large, hard-to-miss monitor on the wall. And on the monitor screen...was her. She was being filmed.

She was being WATCHED.

She tightened her Tough Glove; it'd come in handy if she had to deliver any more punches, and she gave the monitor the "I'm watching you" motion with her fingers, shooting a poisonous glare at it. If the scientist tried to jump her with anything, she'd be ready, and she wanted her to know that she wouldn't hesitate to defend herself.

The human kept going, passing by the vague image of a cluttered work desk, what looked like a refrigerator, and some sort of large bag sitting next to it. She turned around as she went on, walking backwards to the other side of the lab. If she kept her eyes and ears open, a surprise attack would be hard to pull off for the scientist. Ginger might not have been an owl anymore, but her senses were still sharp; she practically had eyes on the back of her head.

The loud sound of another metal door opening caught the human's attention, and she whizzed around forward again to face its source. The door on the wall opened, and a dark silhouette emerged from the shadows of the other room.

_Is...is that her?_

The shadowy figure definitely looked short and stout, and she saw the shape a hand fumbling around the wall in search of a light switch. And then, it stopped, and Ginger heard a clicking noise, to which the faint amount of light in the lab grew brighter.

The monster had found a switch, and the lights turned on in segments, leading from the entrance to the lab from which she came, all the way to the opposite side, where the two of them stood. When the last set came on, it fully revealed exactly what was standing at the door.

That wasn't a porcupine. It was...

_...A **Velociraptor**__?_

She blinked to right her deceitful eyes, now thoroughly convinced she had _Jurassic Park III _too heavy on her mind. But this was real. The monster looked very much like one of the cunning pack hunters; her snout and hands were covered in smooth scales, as was the long, lizard-like tail that flowed out from behind her and just barely hovered over the floor. Her pointed toes stuck out from the bottom of her white lab coat, the innermost ones sporting the distinctive, curved sickle claws that the raptors were most well-known for, and her brown eyes, accented by the large glasses on her face, were very round, and possessed an impressive, almost owl-like spark of intelligence.

That was about as far as the similarities went, though; the monster was indeed quite short, only about a meter tall as opposed to the six-foot therapods, and she was a solid shade of sunny yellow, lacking racing stripes or spots of any sort. The short crest of feathers on her head was fully fledged out, unlike the underdeveloped quills on the male movie raptors and complete lack thereof on the females, and it had a slight downward curve to it. Furthermore, the monster's eyes did possess the dinosaurs' keen intellect, but not their primitive aggression; they were gentle, and made her look somewhat shy, timid even. Her flat buck teeth, clumsy gait and pudgy build starkly opposed the snapping jaws, impressive speed and streamlined form of what she'd come to know of the ancient animals.

_This is the most pathetic excuse for a Velociraptor I've ever seen, _she thought. _But it looks...cute?_

The fact that she WASN'T so fearsome turned out to be a pleasant surprise. She just hoped her demeanor didn't betray her appearance.

The monster turned to face the door again, then fiddled with a controller she had in one of her small clawed hands until the metal door slid shut. She sighed deeply, put the device into the pocket of her coat, adjusted her glasses, then turned to make her way down to the lab entrance.

And the human was standing there, right in front of her.

Ginger saw her jump, gasp, and throw her scaly hands over her mouth.

"Oh. My God," she uttered, completely mortified.

"Um...Are you Doc-"

"Aaaaahhhhh, I didn't expect you to show up so soon!" she exclaimed, very nervously flitting around where she stood, the small claws on her feet making light tapping noises against the tile floor. "I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, the place is all messy, and..."

Ginger simply stood there and watched as the creature fussed to herself about how she should have been ready for company far earlier, what was wrong with the lab and reprimanding herself for not having had everything done first thing that day, her high-pitched, nasally voice making her sound all the more nervous and all the more pitiable.

A voice that made the Pure One's eyes narrow.

_...Wait a minute._

Something clicked inside the human's head, and she realized...

She knew that voice.

She'd heard it once before. No, not once...TWICE, actually, now that she thought about it, if not more than that, even. The first time was in Snowdin, when she received a mysterious phone call and that odd text, and the second time she heard it was at...

Waterfall.

The Trash Zone.

The stranger she'd spoken to, who the human had engaged in conversation with, who had told her about the theories she had about where the abyss lead to...who had cried onto her shoulder about how useless she was, and who had said that the human had just unwittingly saved her from ending it all.

Everything was adding up.

Her brown, avian eyes.

The spectacles.

The scientific theories.

And there was absolutely NO mistaking that voice. This was her.

That'd been...?

"Um...H-hiya!" the monster greeted with a small wave, having ceased her panicking and straightened herself out, though she was still jittery. "I-I'm Doctor Alphys, the Royal Scientist!"

That troubled stranger had been the Royal Scientist everyone spoke so highly of? She was surprised; for someone of such great importance, she couldn't imagine why she thought of herself so terribly.

"But, ah...I'm-I'm not one of the 'bad guys'! I promise! Uh...you see, e-ever since you came out of the Ruins, I've been, heh...observing your trek through the Underground th-through my console. Your plans, your fights, y-y-your friendships, all that. Originally, I was g-going to try and stop you, but...Heh...Turns out, w-watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them, you know?"

So she'd been the one who had those cameras set up around the Underground. But as smart as she was, Dr. Alphys was oblivious to the human's significance on her.

"It's...It's really nice to finally meet you in person," she told her, stooping down to her height as not to intimidate her. "I've heard a lot of good things about you."

"O-oh, y-you have? Um..."

The raptor timidly shuffled closer and extended one of her small hands to shake, to which the human met her halfway.

"Well, i-it's nice to meet you, too, uh...uh, s-something like a plant, you said it was...?"

"'Ginger?'"

"Yes! That's it, thank you! I-I'm sorry, I'm...I'm terrible with names."

"Ah, don't sweat it."

"Eheheh...So, as I was saying, I just so happen to know a way r-right to Asgore's castle from here! Using my knowledge, I-I can easily guide you through Hotland and assist you with the puzzles, a-and I can navigate you to the capital so you can go home!"

"...You'd do that?"

"Yeah! O-of course!"

"Don't you know how much a-"

Ginger stopped short. If, by any chance, the monster was blind to the value of a human **SOUL**, she didn't want to make it plain.

Fortunately, it wouldn't have made a difference if she had.

"Oh, no, no, no. I know what a human SOUL is worth. B-but it's okay, really! I'm happy to help! A-and so are your friends!"

Ginger smiled; she liked the Royal Scientist so far. Ever since she'd left the Ruins, Dr. Alphys had been one of the only monsters so far that hadn't tried to fight against her and/or claim her SOUL at some point, and it didn't look like she'd be trying anytime soon. Besides, after what happened at Waterfall, she actually knew the monster more than she realized.

"You're sure it's not a problem?"

"N-no, of course not! We'll have you b-back on the surface in no time! No problem!"

And she just seemed so sweet and eager to help, let alone the fact that she was positively _adorable_; how could she not like her?

"Heheh...erm..."

The dinosaur monster forced a laugh, and she began to twiddle her thumbs nervously.

"Well, actually...Th-there might be one teensy, tiny issue...Y-you see, a handful of years ago, I, uh...I made an entertainment robot named 'Mettaton,' and-"

"Wait, wait, wait. You BUILT Mettaton?"

"Um...yes? Y-you know who he is?"

"The star of Underground T.V. The guy that hosts literally every. Single. Show broadcasted down here, INCLUDING the news? You built that guy. Is that what I'm hearing?"

"Y-yeah, but..." she stammered, the bright yellow scales on her face developing a rosy tint. "I-it was nothin', I-I mean-"

"I'm going to be totally honest with you here," the human continued. "I'm not the hugest fan of his programs. But most of the other people down here LOVE 'em. You're responsible for one of the only things that can take monsters' minds off of the fact that they're all trapped down here. That wasn't 'nothing.' That was the work of a genius."

"Y-y-you really think so?" she questioned, the pink tinge on her face having intensified.

"I don't think, Doc, I know."

"Oh...well...th-that's awful nice y-you think that...B-but as I was saying about him, uh...When I f-first saw you coming along, I-I decided that I should make him more useful."

"How so?"

"Oh, you know, j-just some small practical adjustments, like...uh, heheh...anti...antihuman c-combat features, and the like?"

The blush on her face had faded, and was replaced with sweat beads forming along the sides of her feathered brow.

"...Oh," Ginger replied. She realized where this was going, and she didn't like it.

"O-of course, when I saw how much everyone was getting to know you, a-and growing to like you, I decided that, well...I had to remove those features. Unfortunately, uh...I-I might have made a small mistake during the r-removal process, and...now he's, uh..."

"What happened?"

"Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?" she spouted. "Eheheheheh..."

"Ah...heheh...heh..."

They both stood there, laughing nervously. Ginger genuinely feared for her life; she could fight her way through flesh and blood, but not so much a block of steel.

"Heh...But...H-he's usually pretty busy with all of his shows, so if we have a-any luck on our side, the odds of him finding you aren't very high!"

Her claim eased Ginger's nerves a bit...just a bit. She was honestly surprised that the killer robot hadn't come to destroy her a long time ago, seeing that he knew about her. She hoped he would stay in the news studio where he belonged until she was in the clear, or else she'd-

**_*bang*_**

The faint, yet sudden sound made her thoughts stop short. Even the human's breathing ceased momentarily.

"Doc...?"

"Something wrong?"

_***Bang***_

It sounded again, louder than before. This time, it was enough for the scientist to hear.

"Did...D-did you hear something?"

_***Bang***_

_***BANG***_

_***BANG***_

***BANG_*_**

**_*_BANG***

The sound was far more intelligible now; the distinct, heavy sound of metal on metal, like two enormous chunks of pure cast iron being hurled into each other, over and over again.

And it was getting closer.

Ginger felt her heart stop.

"Oh, no," Alphys squeaked.

Not good. Not good, not good, not good, not good. She scrambled to desperately pull her bow out of her pack, along with two of her arrows; her fists might have been useless, but the power of a metal arrow tip might just be enough to deal enough to ward him off...she hoped.

And just when she had it pulled out, the lights in the lab went out, just like that.

The sound of something crashing through the wall caught her attention, and she pointed her aim at the source of the noise, whatever it was.

"**OHHHH YES!**"

There wasn't any doubt as to who it was. She only had to hear a ten-second snippet on his flamboyant, mechanical voice and it had forever embedded itself into her head.

"**WELCOME, BEAUTIES...**"

The light directly above them flickered back on, revealing the robotic T.V. star in all his rectangular splendor.

"**...TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!**"

Music sounded, colored lights blared across the lab, and the robot approached.

"**OH, BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW! EVERYBODY, GIVE A BIG HAND FOR OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANT!**"

Ginger lowered her bow a tad, giving the sentient machine a very odd look.

"...Quiz show," she echoed. Was this his idea of an attack?

"**NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS?**"

"No. Why would I-"

"**NO PROBLEM! IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE! ANSWER CORRECTLY...****OR YOU DIE!**"

The lights were dimmed just enough to increase the tension, and Ginger suddenly felt as though eyes were all over her, though from where, she couldn't tell, and she doubted she wanted to know.

"**LET'S START OFF WITH AN EASY ONE, SHALL WE?**"

The host stood before her, and a large monitor opened up behind him.

"**HERE'S YOUR FIRST QUESTION: WHAT'S THE PRIZE FOR ANSWERING CORRECTLY?**"

And on the monitor behind him, the multiple choice answers appeared.

"**A: Money**"

"**B: Mercy**"

"**C: New car**"

"**D: More questions**"

The human quickly got her thoughts together, and took a good look at her options; she immediately ruled out "A" and "C." If the robot was out to kill her, she doubted he'd be willing to gift her with anything. She was about to go with option "B," but she realized that it didn't seem that plausible that he'd let her go so easily, either. So...

"I'd say 'D: More questions'."

"**RIGHT! SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT!**"

Great! Good; all she had to do was examine her choices carefully enough and she should be fine...right?

"**HERE'S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE!**"

And Mettaton displayed the next question on the screen, along with her answers.

"**WHAT'S THE KING'S FULL NAME?**"

"**A: Lord Fluffybuns**"

"**B: Fuzzy Pushover**"

"**C: Asgore Dreemurr**"

"**D: Dr. Friendship**"

Now this was an easy one; so easy that she hoped it wasn't a trick question of some sort.

"Isn't it 'C'?"

"**CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!**"

Ginger carefully lowered her bow and arrow some more; she decided to only use it if she was faced with an impossible answer. Besides, this time around, she'd noticed the timer on the screen, rapidly ticking down as she thought about her answer, as well as what looked like a zapper of some sort having emerged from Mettaton's head that was pointed right at her. If she couldn't answer quickly enough, she would have to resort to fighting back.

"**NOW! ENOUGH ABOUT YOU; LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!**"

And the next question was displayed.

"**WHAT ARE ROBOTS MADE OUT OF?**"

"**A: Hopes & Dreams**"

"**B: Metal & Magic**"

"**C: Snips & Snails**"

"**D: Sugar & Spice**"

_My hopes and dreams are resting on my own brain power...Good thing these are so easy._

"I say 'B'."

And sure enough, she was right.

"**OHHH, TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH?**"

"Is that all you got, bolts-for-brains?" she scoffed. "I could do this all day."

"**OHHH, HOW PAWKY! WELL, DARLING, HOW ABOUT ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU?**"

The next question appeared.

And it made her wish she'd just kept her mouth shut.

"**TWO TRAINS, TRAIN A AND TRAIN B, SIMULTANEOUSLY DEPART STATION A AND STATION B. STATION A AND STATION B ARE 252.5 MILES APART FROM EACH OTHER. TRAIN A IS MOVING AT 124.7 MPH TOWARDS STATION B, AND TRAIN B IS MOVING AT 253.5 MPH TOWARDS STATION A. IF BOTH TRAINS DEPARTED AT 10:00 A.M. AND IT IS NOW 10:03, HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL BOTH TRAINS PASS EACH OTHER?**"

"**A: 31.054 minutes**"

"**B: 16.232 minutes**"

"**C: 32.049 minutes**"

"**D: 32.058 minutes**"

Ginger began to panic; the timer was going down fast; no way she'd have enough time to figure this one out, and she wasn't willing to see what kind of "antihuman combat features" the Royal Scientist had equipped him with. The timer reached 10, and she was just about to raise her weapon when she noticed something.

Dr. Alphys was trying to get her attention from behind her rogue creation, waving her arms at the human.

And as soon as Ginger had her eyes on her, she made what vaguely looked like a letter "D" in her stubby-clawed hands.

She would have nodded if there wasn't the risk of Mettaton seeing her signal and arrousing any suspicions.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 'D'."

"**OH, HO, HO, HO! TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY, ISN'T IT?**"

Correct again. The monster flashed her a relieved thumbs up; Ginger reminded herself to give the dinosaur a hearty thanks after this whole thing was over.

"**HERE COMES THE NEXT ONE! DON'T 'COUNT' ON YOUR VICTORY!**"

Seemingly out of nowhere, the show host pulled a jar out from behind him. Ginger made a face when she saw just what was in it; an unsettling number of flies were buzzing around inside.

"**HOW MANY FLIES ARE IN THIS JAR?**"

"**A:** **54**"

"**B: 53**"

"**C: 55**"

"**D:** **52**"

Something told her to divert her attention back to the scientist; she was signaling an "A," an she answered accordingly.

"**NOT BAD, DARLING! I WAS RIGHT TO HAVE OVERESTIMATED YOU!**"

"You overestimate your attractiveness, that's for sure."

Alphys gasped; Ginger's comeback was nothing short of a nasty burn.

"**OOOOOOOHH, TESTY, TESTY, TESTY! WELL, YOU MAY KNOW HOW TO SNAP BACK, BUT JUST HOW GOOD IS YOUR MEMORY?**"

And the next question made itself visible. There was an image accompanying the text and Mettaton's speech.

"**WHAT MONSTER IS THIS?**"

"**A:** **Froggit**"

"**B:** **Whimsun**"

"**C: Moldsmal**"

"**D: Mettaton**

Ginger recognized the image as half of a Froggit's face, and she double-checked with the scientist in the background just to clarify. But to her surprise, she was signaling a "D" instead of an "A." Strange, but...

_Well, I trust her more than him..._

"Is it 'D', metal-head?"

As to answer her selection the image on the monitor panned out to reveal...

Mettaton.

Wearing a shirt with a Froggit on it.

"You fox," Ginger retorted. "If only you were half as gorgeous as you are sly."

"**YOUR HARSH WORDS FALL ON DEAF EARS, HUMAN. SHALL WE SEE IF _YOU'RE_ AS SLICK AS YOU THINK YOURSELF TO BE?**"

And he displayed her next question.

"**WOULD YOU SMOOCH A GHOST?**"

"**A: Heck Yeah**"

"**B: Heck Yeah**"

"**C: Heck Yeah**"

"**D: Heck Yeah**"

_...what._

Even Alphys was giving the screen a glare.

Ginger wouldn't let herself be pulled down, though; she was one step ahead of him.

"What? There's no 'All Of The Above' option? How disappointing."

"**OH, NOT BAD! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!**"

If Napstabook had seen that, he probably would have been flattered. In a way, she kind of wished he had; his reaction probably would have been priceless.

"**HERE'S ANOTHER SIMPLE ONE FOR YOU! I'LL BE WILLING TO BET OUR CONTESTANT WILL BREEZE RIGHT THROUGH THIS ONE, FOLKS!**"

And the next question came up.

"**HOW MANY LETTERS IN THE NAME METTATON...NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...**"

As the word got bigger, so did the numbers composing the answers. But his maker was apparently prepared for this one, as well, and flashed the human a "C," and Ginger answered correspondingly.

"**OF COURSE THAT WAS EASY FOR YOU!**" the robot praised, though his words were really quite empty. Ginger could care less whether he meant it or not; she just wanted to get this whole thing over with.

"**NOW! TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!**"

_I hope he doesn't mean that literally... _she thought, eyeing the electric zapper.

Fortunately, he didn't, and the next question to be presented to the human was displayed.

"**IN THE DATING SIMULATION VIDEO GAME "_MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE,_" WHAT IS MEW MEW'S FAVORITE FOOD?**"

"Racdrops," she muttered to herself, knowing she would definitely need the doctor's help for this one, and she diverted her gaze towards her.

Immediately, she got her answer.

"OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE! IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM!"

But she hadn't expected her to be so loud and obvious about it. Which wasn't a good idea, considering the situation.

"IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH, AND SHE BUYS ICE CREAM FOR ALL OF HER FRIENDS! BUT IT'S SNAIL FLAVOR, AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS IT! IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE GAME, BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY HAS A VERY POWERFUL...MESSAGE ABOUT...friendship, and..."

She stopped her bantering, realizing her folly. Ginger stared the raptor in the eyes, and her expression conveyed her thoughts so perfectly, the communication might as well have been telepathic.

_Shouldn't have done that._

"**ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS,**" the robotic show host reprimanded. "**YOU WEREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, WERE YOU?**"

The monster shook her head "no," but they all knew what the truth was; including him.

"**OH, HO, HO! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME! I'LL ASK A QUESTION...YOU'LL BE _SURE_ TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!**"

"Oh, no...No, no, Mettaton, please don't-"

Too late. The monitor displayed Ginger's next question.

"**WHO DOES DR. ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?**"

"**A:** **Undyne**"

"**B: Asgore**"

"**C: The Human**"

"**D: Don't know**"

"Aw, man..."

Was he really making her do this? Well...might as well get it over with, for everyone's sake. She turned to look at the scientist in question; instead of giving an answer, she was waving her hands out at the human and breaking out into another nervous sweat, silently pleading that she not say.

She flashed the scientist a sympathetic frown and remorsefully shook her head; she was going to have to if she was going to make it out of this whole shebang in one piece.

Ginger honestly had no idea what the answer was, so she began eliminating answers. If she picked "D," it would probably earn her an unpleasant experience, despite Alphys' pleading. And she immediately ruled out "A" and "C" for reasons she saw as quite obvious.

"Mettaton, you're disgusting in more ways than one," she sneered at him. The mere thought of either of them being correct made her develop the urge to yarp.

So, by her process of elimination, Ginger found herself left with...

"Uh...The king, I guess?"

The dinosaur's nervous smile turned upside-down in an instant, and she hid her face away in her hands, a bright, scarlet blush covering its entirety, and whimpered.

"**LET ME PRESENT TO YOU A QUESTION,**" Mettaton began. "**WHY WOULD DR. ALPHYS OUTFIT AN AMUSEMENT ROBOT, SUCH AS I, WITH BRUTAL ANTI-HUMAN COMBAT CAPABILITIES?**"

"...To increase the chance of breaking the Barrier more quickly?"

"**NO, SILLY! IT'S REALLY QUITE OBVIOUS: TO IMPRESS MR. ASGORE DREEMURR, OF COURSE! OR, AS ALPHYS LIKES TO CALL HIM...'MR. DREAMY.' OHOHOH, ISN'T THAT RIGHT, ALPHYS?**"

His inventor's bright red flush grew even redder, tears burned in the corners of her eyes, and her legs caved in, letting her crumple to the floor in sheer humiliation. Ginger turned to witness this, and she began to wish she'd answered "D" just to spare the poor creature from what she was being subjected to now, not caring how harsh her wounds may have been.

"**THOSE STRONG ARMS...THAT LUSTROUS BEARD. LIKE ALL THOSE WHO CREATE WEAPONS, SHE CRAVES THE TENDER EMBRACE OF A BURLY MAN.**"

"I _hate_ you..."

"**THANK YOU VERY MUCH! EVERYONE DOWN HERE LOVES ME, SO IT'S NICE TO SEE SOME VARIATION FOR ONCE!**"

The monitor displaying the questions turned black and folded into itself, and the host wheeled over to scoop up the small bundle it'd become.

"**WELL, WELL, WELL. WITH DR. ALPHYS HELPING YOU, THE SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION! WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS! BUT. BUT! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE! MORE BLOODSHED! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS! TOODLES!**"

The sadistic robot's arms retreated back into his body, and the wheel at the bottom of him was replaced with a roaring, flaming jet engine, which propelled him directly up towards the ceiling, sending him crashing through the lab roof. He was gone.

And she hoped he would stay gone for as long as possible.

"My Glaux..." the human muttered, wiping the sweat from her brow in relief as she slid her weapons back to where they belonged. "Was _that_ a nightmare."

"Y-you have no idea."

The raptor was huddled in the corner, finally starting to show her face again. But it was still just as red as a burning coal, and there was still sweat beading on its sides.

"Dr. Alphys!"

The human rushed over to her, bending down to her height.

"I-I'm okay. Just...it was all so sudden, a-and now everyone knows what's going on in m-my head, and-"

"Wait. What do you mean 'everyone knows'?"

"Uh...well...What just happened. That all...kinda...sorta...went on public television f-for all the Underground to see?"

Ginger gasped, absolutely appalled. She had no idea that every monster underneath Mount Ebott had witnessed the human spill the contents of the Royal Scientist's heart out; she just thought that the whole "quiz show" thing was just a setup!

"My gosh, I...I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea! I...Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah..." she fibbed, turning her eyes away from the human. "D-don't be sorry. This was my fault. I should have expected him to show up. I should have installed more security systems. I-"

"No, no, it's okay, none of this was your fault," she reassured. "Hey. Really, I owe you one. Big time. If you hadn't done what you did back there feeding me some of those answers, I'd probably be toast. BURNT toast."

"...Y-you really think so?"

"Of course! You're the Royal Scientist; you're probably one of the smartest monsters down here. I doubt anyone else would have known the answers. And..."

Her fists suddenly clenched.

"...That _sadist_...The next time I come across him, I swear, I'm gonna take three of my arrows and shove them right up his sorry metal-"

"No!"

_...No?_

The human was about to ask why not, but then she remembered; Dr. Alphys was the one who built Mettaton in the first place. If she destroyed the robot, she'd be nullifying Glaux-knows how much time and effort she put into her invention, let alone eliminating one of the only escapes the monsters had from their bleak outlook. Even if the show host had completely humiliated her on public television, Ginger could tell that the monster really did care about what happened to him.

She sighed, regretting having said what she did, and to whom.

"I...I'm sorry."

She took one of her scaly hands and got her back onto her feet.

"I-it's okay. I ap-p-preciate the thought, though. Really I do. E-even though we barely know each other, it...it seems like you really care."

_Should I tell her why?_

The human felt that it was a good idea; maybe to give the Royal Scientist a little more reassurance, seeing what had just occurred with Mettaton. But she would have to dance around the subject for a bit and see if the monster could figure it out herself with that big brain of hers before dropping the bombshell. The last thing she wanted was to overwhelm her.

"Are you sure we don't know each other from somewhere? Your voice sounds awfully familiar."

"Ah, I don't...uh...Y-you know, now that you mention it...I-I feel like I've heard yours somewhere, too. I just...don't r-remember where."

"Hm...So, off-topic question."

"Yes?"

"I assume you've been to the Trash Zone in Waterfall? There's a lot of stuff there that might peak your interest."

"A-actually, I...was just there n-not to long ago."

"Ever see the abyss there?"

"Y-yeah! I actually spoke to someone about it there l-last time I went! She was asking me what it might be, o-or where it might lead to, and I told her a couple of my theories about how might lead to-"

"An alternate dimension?"

"Yeah! That's right! One where, if it really did exist, then-"

"The slightest anomaly could cause the events to be completely different from ours?"

"Exactly! How'd you guess all that? It's almost like...It's...It's almost like you were...there..."

Realization at what the human was insinuating swept over her like a tsunami over Japan.

"Yep. That, ah...That was me."

"Oh...My...God."

"...Too soon?"

"I-I-I had no idea! I-h-how did I not recognize your voice earlier, I'm so sorry! Th-that was you!? I-I thought it was a-another monster! This is so crazy, I...I-I-I'm sorry about what happened back there, I-I was such a mess! I can't believe I'm so stupid, I-"

"Hey."

"...Yeah?"

"It's okay."

The raptor monster's expression stilled. It initially conveyed shock and shame, but as she collected her thoughts again, her large eyes began to show gratitude, remembering the reason she'd been at the dump, and what the human had prevented.

"Did...did you really mean all of that? Wh-what you said back there?" she asked, nervously clutching her own hands.

"I wouldn't have said any of it if I didn't."

"Y-you...really care about me that much?"

The human nodded reassuringly, and the corners of the Royal Scientist's mouth turned up as her vision went blurry.

"Um...Dr. Alphys? Are you-"

"Th-thank you," the scientist choked up, gratefully shaking her hand, yet at the same time clutching it as though her life depended on it. "Thank you, thank you so much for all that. I-I really...I just can't thank you enough. I-I've been through so much over the past several months, what you said and wh-what you did really...it really means a lot to me. It really does. I don't..."

She uttered something incoherent through her blubbering as her tears began to spill again.

_Oh, what have I just done...? _the human lamented.

"Doc? C-come on, don't cry," she said to her, resting a hand on the creature's shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay."

The Royal Scientist dabbed at her eyes with her coat, emitting weak apologies.

"I'm sorry, I...I'm just sort of a wreck w-with everything I've b-been going through, and, I know I should really be acting more professional right now, and..."

Ginger reached out her arm and wiped away one of the tears streaming down the side of the dinosaur's face with her thumb, and she stopped her rambling to process this, looking the human in the eye.

"...Dr. Alphys?"

"H-huh?" the creature sniffled, the nostrils at the end of her blunt snout running as much as her eyes.

"Can..." She sighed. "Can I give you a hug?"

"...O-okay," she croaked, still trying to wipe her face dry.

She knelt down to match her level and rested one hand on her back and one on top of her head.

"It's...a small world down here, i-isn't it?" Alphys remarked, suppressing anther sob. "O-of all the people I thought would e-ever help me out when I..."

She emitted somewhat of a squeak as the human held her just a bit more snugly, but upon processing it, she hugged her right back, tightly shutting her eyes, trying and failing to stop the flow of tears. Ginger sighed.

"...What's going on?" she asked. Surely there had to be a reason behind the Royal Scientist's distress. "What happened that was so bad, and...How can I help?"

"I...I can't tell you...I c-can't tell a-anyone, I'm sorry...Th-there's nothing you can do..."

Ginger looked the tiny creature in the eye; she was so scared, so hopeless, so upset. And what was worse was that she had no idea what she could do for her...

A familiar exchange of words came back to her.

"_I'm not supposed to be this...thing! And how am I going to get out of this place!? I fell down a three hundred foot hole, and I have no wings! How am I going to get back home!? What am I going to do!?_"

"_Dear child..._" the motherly Boss Monster had soothed as she held her tenderly. "_Everything will be alright. You're safe here._"

She couldn't help it; the bittersweet memories were too much. She squeezed Alphys tightly and smoothed down the feathers on her head with one hand as she kept her other arm wrapped around her as she buried her scaly face away in the human's embrace. Anything to console her. Anything to help her feel better.

Despite what Dr. Alphys said, it was something she could do.

"This is a small world, isn't it?" she agreed. "At least...in a world as small as this, you know there's always gonna be at least someone who'll have your back."

As on cue, the human rubbed her hand up and down the little yellow monster's back and patted it a few times. She heard her emit a shaky sigh.

"Th-this is the e-episode at the garbage dump a-all over again, isn't it?" the scientist mused. "E-except it's not so a-anonymous this time, huh?"

"Life's funny that way, isn't it?"

"Heh...I-I never would have expected you t-to be the human, you know?"

"And I never expected you to be this adorable lil' dinosaur-type thing."

"Wh-M-me?" she stuttered, turning pink in the face again. "You think-_GYACK!_"

Ginger practically squished her, almost lifting the raptor clean off her claws as she pulled her into what was no less than a bear hug and giving the fuzzy plumage on her head a friendly nuzzle.

"I, uh...You know, I...F-from the camera footage I saw, I...didn't think you'd to be one to like g-giving hugs," she mused.

"Well, if you ran into me three days ago, you'd have been right about that. You could say I, uh...changed my mind about them. I used to think they were too close for comfort, but now they feel...warm. And secure. Which is what you needed, it looks like."

"D'oh...Th-that's awful sweet of you."

"Thanks, Doc."

_...Thanks, Toriel._

"I-I think I'm okay now," the monster assured, to which she was put down. "Th-thanks for that."

"No problem. Now...Let's do this thing. I've got a castle to get to and a king to negotiate with."

"Oh, yeah. W-we better get the ball rolling before Metatton decides to come back."

"Okay! Let's move out!"

Ginger headed for the back door; they'd have to be quick if they wanted to keep the killer rectangle off their tail.

"W-wait!"

"Hm?"

"B-before you leave, let me give you my phone number!"

"You gonna stick around here?"

"I-I, uh...I've got some work I need to tend to here; this way I-I can do my job and help you out if the need arises!"

"Oh. That makes more sense. Here; catch!"

She practically chucked the flip phone at her, but she still managed to catch it.

"Great! Now..."

She stared at it, her already large eyes having gotten bigger.

"What is it?"

"Wh-where did you get this thing!? It's ancient!"

"Really?"

"Are you kidding me? I-it doesn't even have texting!"

_Dang...Toriel, how long was that thing just sitting around?_

"Here, j-just give me a sec!"

She proceeded up the escalator leading to the second floor of the lab. The human could hear her doing...something. The sound of buzzing machinery lasted for about a minute before the dinosaur returned down the other stairway. The device in her hand looked drastically different from what it had once been.

"Here! I upgraded it for you! It's got digital item storage, texting, a keychain...I-I even signed you up for the Underground's number-one social network! N-now we're officially friends...Heheh..."

"You did all that in under a minute?! Doc, this is incredible!"

"Y-you don't need t-to call me 'Doctor,' you know. Just my name's fine. S-some of my friends even skip out on the 's' at the end."

"'Alphy'?"

"Y-yeah," she confirmed, blushing a bit again. "I-I always thought it sounded kinda cute."

"Heh...Suits ya; I'll stick with it."

The raptor nearly buried her beet-red face again, obviously flustered by the compliment.

"I-I'm flattered you think so..." she squeaked.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," the human continued.

"Oh, yeah! I-if you need anything just call!"

"Got it! Nice seein' ya!"

Ginger exited out the back door of the lab. Ahead lay the floors and floors of puzzles, waiting to be solved. But with someone as bright as the Royal Scientist on her side, she'd have everything done in a snap.

And the assistance she'd be providing just might help the monster feel a little bit better about herself.

* * *

**A/N: People can't seem to decide whether Alphys is a lizard or a dinosaur, you know? At some point when I was trying out different styles of drawing her, I found myself interpreting her as a scientifically-accurate Velociraptor monster. I mean, she IS a clever girl, and IRL, Velociraptors WERE pretty small, so I thought it fit.**

**Don't look at me like that! It's not wrong! It's just my headcanon!**

**I'm pretty sure you could figure out from this chapter that I think Alphys is fRiCkIn' AdOrAbLe!1! I was kinda surprised to find out a lot of people don't like her; I guess I get the status update thing and that people think that sort of character type is cringey, but I think the status updates are funny and the character type IS my cup of tea...Asgore might like that one, but he won't appear for another several chapters, I'm afraid. XD**

**Special thanks to artfully for helping me pick out a name for the chapter! Fun Fact: It's also named after one of the music soundtracks for the movie it's based off...I think Michael Giacchino was listening to the wrong John Williams score while writing that. Have a listen and you'll see what I mean. XP**

**As always, remember to leave a review! See you next time! :D**


	21. Chapter 19: Heat Rises

"_Hello?_"

"Hey, Pap-...Oh. It's **you**." Ginger groaned, realizing that it wasn't the skeleton on the other end, rather the Royal Guard captain she'd grown to dislike.

"_Yeah, it's me, nerd. What's happening?_"

"Passing through Hotland; met Dr. Alphys, exchanged a few words, almost got killed by a sadistic T.V. star, you know. Typical."

"_Oh-ho, ha, yeah! We saw that part! It was being broadcasted live, don'tcha know? I was on the edge of my seat the whole time; I'd pay anything to see you get fried! In fact, after what you did with that last question, I might just go ahead and do that myself._"

"You think I enjoyed that? If anyone should be fried, it should be that stupid robot. Papyrus said that you don't like him, and I can see why now."

_"Why didn't you just say you didn't know? That WAS an option._"

"Not the right one. And I'd rather not get burned alive...At least you know who to set her up on a blind date with now, huh?" the human teased. "Do you think the king prefers the smart type? Ha!"

"_What!? NO! That's a terrible idea! YOU have terrible ideas! I would NEVER do that to her!_"

"Ghee wiz, it's just a joke. You don't need to get all defensive about it."

"_OH! IS THAT THE HUMAN?_"

Papyrus's voice sound like it was coming from another end of the room instead of right by the phone.

"How is he hearing us?"

"_I have it on speaker, mud-for-brains; how do you not know what that is? Have you been living under a rock you're whole life?_"

"Actually, yes. I've been living inside of one taller than Mount Ebott itself."

"_When you have an entire surface world to live up on? You expect me to believe that bullcrap?_"

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

"_Get outta town..._"

"_BUT, UNDYNE! SHE'S BEEN OUT OF TOWN FOR A GOOD LONG TIME NOW!_"

"No, Papyrus..."

Ginger stifled a laugh; the things he said. So naïve, always taking things in the most literal way. It was hilarious.

"_Ugh...Take over for me, Papyrus, I gotta bone to pick with Sans._"

"_NOT A PROBLEM! HELLO, HUMAN! SO! UNDYNE LEFT TO LOOK FOR MY LAZY BROTHER UPSTAIRS. YOU AND DR. ALPHYS HAVE FINALLY MET, I HEAR?_"

"That we did. It was an, uh...eventful episode."

"_MOST CERTAINLY! ONE OF THE MOST TENSE EPISODES I'VE EVER SEEN! TELL ME; WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROYAL SCIENTIST?_"

"I don't normally think things are cute, but the way she stutters and blushes over everything is just adorable! She's like a squeezable Velociraptor, huh?"

"_NYEH! GOOD TO KNOW THINGS WENT WELL BETWEEN YOU TWO! YOU KNOW, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, SHE DOES KIND OF LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE CRAFTY CREATURES, DOESN'T SHE? AND SHE'S SMART LIKE THEM, TOO!_"

"Oh my gosh, I just had a thought. Can you imagine her popping up out of nowhere and saying-"

"_**ALAN! OH MY GOD!**_"

Laughter rung out between the two parties.

"_THAT'D BE HILARIOUS! I CAN SO IMAGINE THAT!_"

"She's nowhere near as intimidating as those guys, though."

"_YES, QUITE RIGHT. YOU KNOW, I WON'T TELL HER ANYTHING, SINCE IT'D BE LIKELY TO EMBARRASS HER, BUT SHE WOULD PROBABLY FEEL VERY HAPPY TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON HER; SHE'S VERY MILD, AND...I DON'T BELIEVE SHE THINKS OF HERSELF VERY HIGHLY._"

"You won't tell her? Ha! She already heard all that!"

_"YOU TOLD HER THAT? WOWIE...NOT WHAT I'D EXPECT FOM SOMEONE OF YOUR TYPE, I MUST_ _SAY!_"

"Uh, well, you know...Things down here have been sort of an, uh...influence on me, but you know, like, whatever," she stammered. "It, uh...It was a good thing I did, though; she was a, uh...a little emotional from everything once Mettaton left. But she's okay now! I was there!"

"_He's not up there; maybe he got smart and high-tailed_ _it._" Ginger heard the fish monster announce as she returned to the conversation. "_W__hat'd she say about Alphys?_"

"_SHE SAYS THAT DR. ALPHYS IS A 'SQUEEZABLE VELOCIRAPTOR'. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!_"

Ginger held back another laugh.

"_Hey, back off, pal!_" Undyne practically yelled from the other end of the line. "_She's mi-...friend. My friend._"

"_UH-OH. SOMEONE'S JEALOUS, EH?_"

"_Shut your mouth, Papyrus!_"

"What the sprink's gotten into you? You're even more obnoxious and loud than usual, and NOT in the good way, like Papyrus. Is the water over there making you salty?"

"_You and I both know that's freshwater!_"

"Then you should probably cut back on the tea; it's turning you into a caffeine-fueled nutjob."

Undyne inhaled sharply, as though trying to hold back some very nasty words, then released her breath in a drawn-out sigh.

"_...Whatever. Just...don't do anything to make her upset, you hear? It was enough having to learn about her love interest being announced for all the Underground to see._"

"Chill. I've been doing just the opposite."

"_Well, keep it up, or ELSE. Now...Uh...Question, Papyrus._"

"_YES?_"

"_What the heck is a 'Velociraptor'?_"

"_OOOOOOHH, YOU AND I SHOULD WATCH THAT MOVIE! SHE LEFT IT HERE! ERM...HERE'S THE CASE!_"

"'Jurassic Park III'_...Isn't that the one you had on the T.V. when I came to look for her?_"

"_WHY, YES! THE HUMAN FOUND IT AT THE GARBAGE DUMP! I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD HAVE THROWN IT AWAY...IT'S A BLAST! YOU'D PROBABLY LOVE IT!_"

"Oh, yeah. She'll definitely like all the death scenes. I gotta keep goin' Papyrus. You go show fish-face a bunch of people getting eaten by prehistoric bird-lizards."

"_WILL DO! IT CERTAINLY SEEMS UP HER ALLEY! BYE FOR NOW, HUMAN!_"

"See ya."

She ended the call and looked ahead. Before her lay what was essentially the Death Valley of the Underground. Hotland was far different from the cold, cheery Snowdin and the peacefully cool and quiet Waterfall. It was dry, it was barren, and the place definitely lived up to its name.

It.

Was.

HOT.

Even without her cloak and sweater, it was like she'd walked right into a furnace.

But even so, she couldn't just sit and suffer; she had to keep going. So she headed still east, an eager bounce in her step, despite the heavy atmosphere. The sooner she got out of this place, the better.

And just when she stepped forward, her cellphone beeped. She took a look at the phone screen; the phone didn't snap shut anymore, rather it was just one big screen. She'd gotten a notification...from Undernet.

**-ALPHYS updated status.**

***just realized i didn't watch undyne fight the human ˘. ˘**

Oh. Alphys. She posted. Oh, well...She kept going.

And the phone beeped again.

"Huh?"

-**ALPHYS updated status.**

***well i know she's unbeatable i'll ask her abt it later ^. ^**

The question Ginger wanted to ask was what the little symbols at the end of the texted speech were. She guessed they looked like...Faces? Maybe to add some personality into her writing? Sounded about right to her.

One thing was for sure; when she did ask the captain about the fight, she'd be in for quite a story.

The human turned north...

-**ALPHYS updated status.**

***for now i gotta call up the human and guide her =^. ^=**

It was surprising at how much more talkative the monster seemed to be on Undernet as opposed to what she'd seen in person. Maybe it was easier when she wasn't face-to-face with anyone? She didn't know; the whole concept of the Internet was still fairly new to her.

She did know, however, that she wasn't the only one receiving the notifications...which meant that a lot of monsters knew about her presence underground. And probably even more had just learned about her, too.

_Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing,_ she wondered.

There were two conveyer belts not far ahead, the left one heading forward and the right one backtracking. She immediately opted for the belt that lead forward, and the minute she stepped on it, she found herself being carried forward.

Convenient. She didn't even have to move her legs! She grinned widely...

And would have kept grinning if not for what was at the very end of the contraption.

"Hi!" the monster squeaked. But Ginger was too startled to acknowledge the friendly greeting.

"_Gack!_" she exclaimed, and, not realizing she'd made it to the end of the conveyer belt, fell clean off her feet beside the strange creature, right onto her face, into the hard, dry, scorching ground.

"Uuugh..."

"Ah! I'll help! Healing magmas!"

"What...?"

She rose her head just in time to see a series of flames shoot out at her from both sides, and the sight of it was more than enough to get her back onto her feet in a hurry.

"_AUGH!_"

One of the fiery bullets clipper her before it could be sent back to where it came from, and it left a nasty burn on her unprotected arm, to which she let out a hiss.

"Ahh! Does my best! Helping?"

Her eyes narrowed at the tiny, walking, talking volcano.

"No! It's not! You just frickin' burned my arm! That's not helping!" she snapped, frustrated by the wound it'd caused. The smile on the monster's face faded.

"Ahh...Not...helping? Okay..."

It ceased fire and turned away, its form slumping.

"Uh..."

The human sighed.

"...Why'd you do that, huh, little guy?"

"Magmas...not healing?"

"No. They...They don't. They burn, see?"

She showed off the wound the flaming attack had caused, and the monster shamefully shrank back at the sight of it.

"Ahh..."

"White magic doesn't heal. Green does," she informed it. "If you're looking to heal people, you'll have to go green, you know what I'm saying?"

"Green...? Ahh...So, if magmas are green...Magmas will heal?"

"That's about right."

"Ahh...But...Vulkin don't know how to use green magic..."

"Uh...Well...Vegetoids know how to use the stuff. Know any?"

"Vegetoid...Ahh..." it realized, the smile returning to its face. "Will go find Vegetoids and try my best!"

Vulkin marched off in search of the one who could help it master the healing arts, though not before leaving 40G in its wake.

"Well...I guess that could have been worse...Eesh..."

The burn on her arm made her flinch as she scooped up her prize. She examined it; the skin there was pretty badly damaged, but it was nothing a bit of monster food couldn't fix, right?

"...Except I don't have much of that, do I?"

She could get her hands on better food supplies than Papyrus' first(and not very impressive) batch of spaghetti, right? And she tried not to think about the butterscotch pie.

If monsters lived in Hotland, surely there was a place that sold food.

The path extended further north beyond the twin conveyer belts, and she passed a few odd, vertical blowtorches on either side of the narrow bridge of ground, periodically spitting out tall streams of intense, blue flames.

**-ALPHYS updated status**

***gonna call her in a minute! =^. ^=**

_Wonder if I can figure out how to work this Undernet thing for myself...?_

It would definitely spice things up a bit...She chuckled to herself.

"...Spice things up...Heh...cause I'm in Hotland...Oh, well. Maybe later."

And when she reached the end of the path...

"...What the sprink is this!?"

She thought the first two conveyer belts were neat, but THIS!? There were tons of them! It was almost nauseating to look at...

Fortunately, it looked like they would carry her across without her having to walk much anyway, seeing which directions they were going in. She stepped onto one of the belts, and it took her along...

A bit more quickly than she'd expected. And the sudden turns of the moving path carrying her as opposed to her own two feet made her somewhat dizzy. It was a good thing that it didn't last very long, with the speed they were going. But Ginger had to admit, by the time she made it to the other side, her appetite had been as good as quenched.

The path ahead looked to be constructed from several lines of metal piping, which was, to her relief, sturdy enough to walk across.

A muggy, hot blast of air began to rise from above, and the whooshing sound of steam and cogs filled her ears. The place even SOUNDED hot. Ginger approached the Save Point in the corner of where the path turned.

***Hotland-Magma Chamber**

***File Saved**

She turned right; the next puzzle was a series of steam vents, the air pouring out of them strong enough to send her careening all the way to the other side of the breaks in the land that they marked. The vents were emblazoned with arrows, pointing in the direction the air was meant to take its riders.

Well, if the monsters used these, there was no reason she could, and she tried to ignore the giant pit of magma below. If she paired her ascent with a good, hard jump, she could surely make it to the other side...right?

She hissed nervously at the sight of the molten rock below; it was a very good thing it was so easy, because there was absolutely NO room for error.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^. ^**

"...'El-Mau?'" she tried to pronounce, obviously confused. "...Whatever, I have a puzzle to do."

She stepped onto one of the steam vents, waiting to be thrown across...And sure enough, a gust of wind as strong as a scupper in a cyclone sent her flying over the gap and onto the other segment of ground, and she braced her landing unsteadily, surprised by the quickness and thoroughness of the steam vents.

"Ha...Wow..." she marveled. "Well...At least I know what to expect now!"

There was another one pointing north; she readier herself, and just like last time, was flung to the other side. This time, however, she managed to stick the landing.

"Hah! This...is actually kinda fun."

Being practically thrown over a sea of boiling lava through the air onto the next patch of earth sticking up out of it; the mere thought of it sent a rush of adrenaline up her spine. And the brief sensation of her feet being picked up off the ground made her feel, even if for only a second or two at a time, like she was flying.

"...Flying."

She looked down at her arms and feet, remembering that in their place, there were once a pair of tawny wings and a set of strong, hook-clawed talons...It was funny, she realized, how seldom it was that she was bothered by this. Any other owl to have had this happen to them might have given up and taken their own life in sheer desperation and despair by now, if not sooner.

"Heh...Sometimes, I still wish I had those wings."

"What!? Y-you sicko!"

"HUH!?"

The voice came from just to her, and belonged to a...a...

An airplane?

With a hat?

And strangely expressive front windowpanes?

"...What even...?"

_This place just keeps getting crazier and crazier._

"You can't have these wings!" she piped, her voice surprisingly small, despite the entity's size being a good FIVE TIMES that of the human. "I-if you want them, you're going to have to get them the HARD WAY!"

And the plane stooped her port wing down into a turn as she began to glow green and white with magic energy, threatening to collide with her head-on. She ducked to the side, just barely clipping the green energy of the plane's aura...It was a good thing it was green, as it healed her burn wound.

"Phew...Hey. I wasn't talkin' about you, you know."

"What!? Why...Why not? A-are these wings not good enough for you!?"

"I, uh..."

She dodged the plane's wing again as she grazed her with her green magic.

"...prefer to have the feathery bird wings over what you've got. No offense."

"Hmph! I don't believe it!" the plane huffed.

"Why are you getting yourself so tied up in a knot?"

The airbus' "face" turned pink.

"Me? In a knot!? That's ridiculous! I would never get myself tied up in a knot over someone like YOU. Stupid human..."

"Hey. I might be a human, but I ain't stupid. If you wanna see stupid, tune in to the television for it in rectangular form. That I can assure."

"Hmph! Well, if you'll ex-CUSE me, I think I will! Stop wasting my time! Unless...you really want to, so...Oh, forget it!"

And with a loud, whirring "**_NEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWRRRRRRR,_**" she was gone. And she left 45G in her wake before the bewildered human.

"That was...weird," she mumbled as she scooped the gold up to stash. "...Hope that one doesn't come back. Almost got turned into runway-kill."

She kept at it with the air vent puzzle; slowly forgetting about the lava underneath her, even though it came into plain vision as she flew over it with every vent of steam.

Besides, she remembered; if she just so HAPPENED to fall into the magma below, she could always just **Load, **right?...She was a bit unnerved by the thought, though. So far, she'd avoided succumbing to the hands of death in this vast subterranean world of dangers, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. What would it be like to just die, and then come right back? She wasn't so sure she wanted to find out, so she reminded herself to keep being careful.

Soon enough, though, she'd made it to the north end of the vent puzzle; it looked like there was another path leading south, but from what she'd seen, it looked like a dead end; besides, she didn't think the high-air steam vent transportation would mix very well with conveyer belt movement side-by-side; it would definitely be cause for a stomach ache.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes now. omg i'm just gonna do it i'm just gonna call!**

"Any second now..." the human said to herself as she headed north.

The next puzzle was composed of blue and orange lasers lined up across the metal pipe path ahead; the orange ones stayed still, and the blue ones moved across the path in between several different points. This one would require some additional knowhow in order to get past it.

The phone rang.

Perfect timing!

"Hello? Alphys?"

"_Uh, y-yeah! Howzit?_"

"Just made it to the lasers. Mind offering up a little more info? Don't wanna get fried today."

"_Uh...Well, th-the blue lasers won't hurt you as long as you stay still wh-while they pass through you!_"

"Like blue magic attacks?"

"_Yeah! Exactly! Now, o-orange ones, um...Y-you have to be moving, and they...Um...they won't, um...J-just move through those ones, o-okay?_"

"Blue ones, don't move. Orange, move. Got it. Thanks for that."

"_Oh, uh, y-you're welcome, uh...G-gotta go! Bye!_"

And she was gone.

The first two lasers were the still, orange ones.

_Just...don't stop walking when you pass through them and you're good, right?_

She was just about to proceed when...

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***OMG I DID IT! claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather... ****˘. ˘**

Ginger audibly laughed at the thought; she would probably be at unease too if an aggressive, distasteful fish woman called her to ask about something so strangely mundane.

She passed through the first two orange lasers, as was instructed; sure enough, they did nothing to her except cause a peculiar tingling sensation upon physical contact. But she barely had the time to process it; she knew the sensation might become something far less bearable if she stopped in the middle of them.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME**

"Wait, but...isn't there?"

What about the snow in Snowdin? The light rain in some sections of Waterfall? The occasional breeze? Strange...Maybe she just meant Hotland by itself? Hotland didn't seem to have any weather; the conditions weren't right for precipitation, and the only wind she felt was the hot air rising from the magma below. Not exactly what one would call 'weather.'

The blue laser zipped further away; it looked like she could keep walking, as long as she paused whenever it drew close enough again.

It was a tedious and somewhat nerve-wracking process; the last two blue lasers went especially quickly across the pathway, and she just barely managed to keep from keeping still as one of them went past. At least the orange lasers didn't require quite as much timing to get past. All the while, she feared what might happen if she goofed up; which made her all the more determined to get it right the first time.

But she made it out in one piece, much to her relief. The human confidently brushed the dust off her arm...

Then noticed a switch on the metal wall; it looked like it could be flipped to the right. She did so...

And immediately, all of the lasers were deactivated.

"Oh...Well, now if I decide to come back for some reason, I don't have to hassle with those anymore," she remarked as she continued across the metal piping.

She decided it was about time for a break, so she sat down where she was; the heat was getting to her again, and the metal pipes, surprisingly, didn't conduct very much heat as opposed to the dry, dusty ground. What kind of metal was it? Maybe it was enchanted metal? Whatever the reason, she was grateful for it being reasonably cool.

She tapped the Undernet icon in the top left corner of the screen and got down to business; Alphys had left most of her profile blank; even her username, which was simply "**YouCanChangeThisUsernameAnyTimeOK?**", to which she did.

It was a simple enough process; she had to fill in a bit of personal information, but with the option given to make everything except her username cryptic, she didn't mind much, and there were a lot of spaces that were marked "optional," so it didn't take long to complete everything.

Before long, she had set up her online persona under the cleverly given title of "**DefinitelyNotAHuman**", and she posted her OWN status update; the texting controls were somewhat fiddly, much to her surprise, but she managed to get everything she wanted down.

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman updated status**

***Hello, people of Undernet. Just a quick word of warning: Do NOT do the puzzles in Hotland on a full stomach!**

It wasn't long until the comments started rolling in, and she took a peek to see if she recognized anyone, ready to respond to them.

"Let's see who we got here..."

* * *

**COMMENTS**

* * *

**BrattyNOTCATTY: ikr? like, i know it's tradition, but still**

**\- CattyNOTBRATTY: ya with u 100% gurl**

**\- - DefinitelyNotAHuman: It's tradition to lay out puzzles like that for people to solve? They're not just to stop humans?**

**\- - - BrattyNOTCATTY: ya like how'd you not know that? its common knowlege**

**\- - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ya like have u been living under a rock your whole life?**

**\- - - - DefitinelyNotAHuman: Yes, actually, my home does happen to be a very large rock structure.**

**\- - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: so wait. you've srsly been living under a rock your whole life?**

**\- - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: That's correct. And I'm not just talking about Mt. Ebott itself.**

**\- - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: wow**

**\- - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: also don't sweat grammar, this is undernet. capitals and speling r boring**

**\- - - - - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ya grammar iz 4 chumpz**

**\- - - - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: What? Grammar isn't for chumps. It gives a sense of professionalism!**

**\- - - - - - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ok boomer**

**\- - - - - - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: What?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: you wouldnt get it**

**COOLSKELETON95: GOOD ADVICE! THAT HAPPENED TO UNDYNE ONCE...WHAT A MESS!**

**\- DefinitelyNotAHuman: Papyrus? Is that you?**

**\- - COOLSKELETON95: YES, INDEED! HOW'D YOU GUESS?**

**\- - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: Just a hunch.**

**\- - - - COOLSKELETON95: WELL, ONE WHO IS NOT A HUMAN...HAVE A NICE DAY, WHOEVER YOU MAY BE!**

**definitelynotsans: ey kid. nice username**

**\- DefinitelyNotAHuman: You did the same thing? That's awesome. Is that how you troll your brother without getting caught?**

**\- - definitelynotsans: don't give my secrets away ya hear**

**\- - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: Your secret's going tibia okay with me! ^. ^**

**\- - - - definitelynotsans: kid i can't even right now that's hilarious**

* * *

"So, Sans and Papyrus are on here, too..." she remarked. At least there were some people she recognized; she didn't think she was familiar with...The people apparently named Catty and Bratty, who seemed to make it clear they didn't want their names mixed up.

The human shrugged, then got up to continue.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***Oh My God i Forgot to Tell HEr Where To Go**

"Don't sweat your stuff too much, Alphy, I should be fine," she said aloud, approaching the turn north the path made.

-**ALPHYS posted a picture.**

***CUte PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^. ^**

Ginger took a look at the image she posted...

And immediately raised a confused eyebrow.

"...Is that a trash can? Alphys, what's...? Oh, man...Alphy...Alphy no. You're not trash."

_What's a person gotta do to pull a Velociraptor monster out of the dumps? Literally?_

She headed north, and found herself at a four-way intersection; the steam vent right before her switched between different direction every second.

And the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"_A-Alphys here! Uh, calling with some more i-info on the puzzles! See, th-the northern door will stay locked until you solve the puzzles on the right and left, so you gotta do those first! Uh...I-if I may make a suggestion, I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first, got it? I-it's the easier one, a-and if you do that one first, you might be...uh... more, uh, p-prepared for the harder one to your left?_"

"Got it. Thanks again for that."

"_Oh, n-no problem! Uh, bye!_"

The call ended, and Ginger diverted her attention onto the path; the one arrow was still changing directions. She'd have to time her step carefully.

Cautiously, she approached the rotating arrow, and then stepped fully onto it just as soon as it pointed in the right direction. As sure as the last several times she did it, she was carried through the air by the steam and onto the next segment of land. There was what appeared to be another entry into a room up ahead, and two other monsters were parked outside, chatting amongst each other.

"Yeah, I caught Mettaton's show on my phone. Didja see it?"

"Yeah...The special effects were amazing today! That human looked so real!"

"And the Royal Scientist has been crushing on the king this whole time?"

"How she was just trying to impress him and it wasn't just for us? Plot twist, am I right?"

She tried her best to ignore them; something told her that they had better things they could be doing than sitting around talking about the robot's quiz show.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***wonder if it would be unfun if i explained the puzzle...**

"I'll have to see just how it works first, and then we'll see."

She turned into the room; the walls were dark, but it was still well-lit, and she caught sight of a piece of paper lying on the floor to her left. She picked it up to read it.

"**Shoot the opposing ship!  
Move the boxes to complete  
your mission.**"

"...Okay?"

There was a controller on the panel before her. Upon meddling with it some, she discovered that it moved the boxes around, and there was a red "FIRE" button on the panel, which corresponded with the color of the two bullets displayed on the right of the screen. Two simple-looking arrows pointed at each other from opposite sides of the puzzle, one yellow, and one white; she figured they were the ships the paper was talking about, the yellow one closest to the human being hers.

"Don't you think it's kinda difficult?"

She whizzed around and faced the right wall; in the corner of the room, there was a monster...who appeared to be nothing more than the somewhat disgruntled floating head of an orange tabby cat wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"Yeah, I tried the puzzle, but I kept running out of ammo? And it kept restarting? And my two co-workers won't help me? It's almost like they don't even wanna go to work?"

"I knew they had better things to do," she remarked. "Here, let me give it a go..."

She moved one of the boxes on the dashboard until it was to the side. Now there was only one blocking the path to the enemy ship. She tried to get it out of the way, but every time she tried, the other box moved along with it to block the path again. And when she tried to move that out of the way, the other one did the same. It seemed that no matter what she tried, there was still one box blocking the path.

"Wait...But I have TWO ammo, don't I? What would happen if I-"

She fired one at the box, and it broke and dissipated. With the one off to the side, she now had a clear shot, so she fired again. The enemy ship split, then disappeared.

"**CONGRATULATIONS!**" the word flashed across the screen; an obvious indication that she'd done everything correctly.

"That was actually pretty good?" the cat head stated. "I guess that means we'll be able to go to work again soon? Isn't there another one you gotta solve?"

"Pretty sure there is."

"Well, at least we're part way there, I guess? You're pretty smart, huh?"

"Heh...I've trained among the best of the best, where I'm from," she informed him before turning to leave.

The human made a mad dash for the intersection again and flew over to the left...Only to notice that the path was blocked by a blue laser.

"Well, no worries," she said to herself. "I'll just wait for it to..."

_Wait..._

The blue laser was stationary; it didn't move along the path in each direction like the last two did. So if she tried to walk through it, it wouldn't...

The phone rang.

_Alphys. Maybe she'll know how to deal with this._

"Hello?"

"_H-hey! Uh...Just a quick word of warning. T_h-the blue laser to the left, it's, uh...Impassable. Y-you can't go through it without h-hurting yourself, s-since it's blue.__

"Yeah. Figured as much."

"_But d-don't worry! As the Royal Scientist, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve! I-I can hack into the Hotland laser database and take it out for you, okay?__"_

"Hack into the database?" she echoed.

"_Yeah! I know all of th-the software details, a-and I can manipulate some of the puzzles to an extent. In fact, I think I got it...! H-hold on just a sec-!_"

She looked up at the obstacle...

Just in time to see it switch off.

"_Okay! That should do it!_"

"How long's it gonna stay like that?"

"_I-it should stay deactivated until I put in the command to t-turn it back on again, a-and I, uh...don't plan on doing that. Not for a while, at least, t-trust me...Heh..._"

"Aww, you're the best, pal. Well, I got a puzzle to solve, so see you 'round."

She ended the call herself this time, then entered into the next puzzle room. The problem she was faced with looked similar to the last one, except...

"Oh...Oh, wow..."

It looked like there would be a few more steps involved. Dr. Alphys was right to suggest trying out the easier one first.

Once again, she only had two ammo, and the boxes were a bit more confusing to manipulate with the control panel. At least she knew she could get away with having one box blocking the path to the enemy ship, seeing what happened with the last puzzle.

"...Maybe if I moved this one down, and then used the space there to..." she muttered as she tried to figure it out. "And then...A-ha!"

Two shots were fired, and the next thing she knew the enemy ship was no more.

"Ha! I'm gettin' the hang of this..." she congratulated herself as she passed back out and towards the intersection again. When the arrow pointed north, she stepped onto it, and was sent onto the island of ground in the corresponding direction, and she found herself standing before a large, advanced-looking metal door.

The gateway rumbled, causing the ground to vibrate as it opened up, allowing her to proceed. She turned a right corner, and saw a good straight line of steam vents leading across three islands and onto the continuing path into an open doorway ahead of them.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***idk if she gets those shooting puzzles what if she gets stuck? oh whatever! i'll just explain it!**

And it was just then that the phone rang yet again.

"Alphys?"

"_Yeah! Uuuh...A-about those two p-puzzles, they're a bit difficult to explain, but-_"

"You mean the ones where I had to shoot at the enemy ship?"

"_Uh-huh! Th-that's right. The controls might be a bit confu-_"

"Oh, no, it's fine. I already solved them both actually!"

"_You...uh...already s-solved them? W-wow...Awesome!_"

Her acclamation seemed a bit...forced, she noticed.

"...You wanted to help me out there, didn'tcha?"

"_Uh...Heh, uhh...M-maybe?_"

"I think I'm gettin' the hang of this," she answered, riding the string of steam vents over the sea of molten rock as she spoke. "But stay in touch; you're the one who knows the gist of everything here, and I never know what else this place might decide to throw at me next. You're really helpin' me out here, Alphys. In fact..."

She continued along the next segment of path and entered into a lightless room. Her weak human eyes couldn't even see her hand a few inches away from her face.

"...I might need your help now. This room's as black as pitch."

"_O-oh. I-I think I see where you're at. Here, let me hack into the light system and see if I can brighten things up!_"

"See? What'd I tell ya? You're a big help."

"_Heh heh, th-thanks...Uh, here, just hold on...one...second...Aaaaand...Got it!_"

And that was when the lights above flickered on.

And they revealed that the human was standing in the middle of a very large kitchen setup, bigger than any she'd ever seen.

"Um...Did I just walk into someone's house?"

"_N...N-no. Th-there are no houses i-in this part of Hotland. The only explanation for this would be if...Oh...Oh, no..._" she squeaked.

And that was when Ginger saw a familiar-looking rectangular figure rise up from behind the counter.

"Oh, no..."

"**OHHHH YES!**"

* * *

**A/N: Gonna leave this one on a bit of a cliffhanger! We'll just have to wait and see how she fares with Cooking with a Killer Robot!**

**I feel like this chapter was sort of filler, but we've gotta progress the story somehow without too many things out...The next one should be more interesting with the cooking show and whatnot, I promise.**

**That's all for now, peeps. Laterz! :D**


	22. Chapter 20: Fight or Flight

"...Oh, thank goodness. It seems as though she was indeed right about being able to hold her own out there."

"yeah. she even impresses me, which is saying something."

"Is she...um...behaving out there? I know, it's a strange question. But you know as much as I do, as well as everyone else that humans are far stronger than we are. I suppose I'm just worried she might...you know...cause an accident? While trying to defend herself?"

"nothing's happened yet. and she's made it pretty obvious that she's got just as much mind as she does muscle; she's been wormin' her way out of pinches left and right. and the crazier part is that all of the folks she meets, uh...seem to like her. i guess she's got a way with people, eh?"

"Good. I'm...glad to hear that. Very glad."

"yeah, but she's, uh...a little rough around the edges, gotta admit. i've got a weird question now, lady; you didn't see any signs of, uh...foul play in there, didja?"

"You mean...Oh. Oh, no, no, no, I didn't, I promise you. If something happened to one of the monsters down here, I likely would have found out about it from the telltale pile of dust. And something of the sort would be hard to miss; I pass through every nook and cranny of these Ruins day to day checking everything."

"so she hasn't dusted any monsters...if that's the case, then...it makes me wonder what sorta things she was doin' on the surface."

"Why do you say that?"

"i can just...tell she's not one to be messed with. it's not exactly a gut feeling...because i don't have any guts. it's hard to explain, but something's tellin' me that her hands aren't the cleanest...in terms of violence, that is. and it's weird, cuz she's been pretty peachy with almost everyone she's come across...i dunno. guess we're both just worried about her a lot and it's gettin' to my head."

"Well...If you will, please continue to keep a watchful eye."

"_eye_'ve gotcha covered."

The monster in the Ruins snorted.

"you know...the kid's gotta taste for bad jokes too."

"Oh, DOES she now?"

"yeah...you should have seen her with this one guy; they were throwin' ice puns at each other like they were goin' out o' style."

"Oh, my goodness!"

She laughed.

"I never saw anything of the sort while she was here; did she get that from you, maybe?"

"willin' to bet. guess that's what's keepin' me from bein' even more suspicious. those rough edges seem to have, uh...smoothed out some, so to speak. she's able to tie her fists down, but she's almost always on guard. even i'm having trouble surprising her now."

"Well, it's a good thing she's faring well out there. Erm...How close is she to New Home?"

"gettin' there; passin' through hotland as we speak."

"She hasn't run into any trouble out there, either, I suppose?"

"if you want i can go head out there just in case."

"Alright, then. Thank you again for visiting, young man. And once again, I'm very grateful knowing you're protecting her."

"no problem, lady. she's probably fine, though; i mean, with all she's gotten through so far, what could happen?"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"What. Is happening?"

"**WHAT'S HAPPENING? DARLING, I'LL TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT'S HAPPENING! YOU'VE JUST BECOME TODAY'S GUEST STAR ON THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIER COOKING SHOW!**"

"Oh, sprink me..." she groaned, bringing her free hand to her face.

"**PRE-HEAT YOUR OVENS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU TODAY! WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING A BEAUTIFUL, VELVETY WHITE CAKE, AND MY LOVELY ASSISTANT HERE WILL GATHER UP THE INGREDIENTS FOR US! EVERYONE, GIVE HER A BIG HAND!**"

Ginger decided it was safe to assume she was on film again, knowing Mettaton. But he certainly hid his cameras well.

"**ALRIGHT, DARLING. WE'LL ****NEED SUGAR, MILK AND EGGS TO MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN,**" the machine said to her, pointing over to the ingredients laid out on the counter. "**GO FOR IT, SWEETHEART!**"

"Can you not call me that?" she retorted. If she was going to be filmed, she could at least put him in his place in front of an audience and maybe pull him down a notch.

The human reluctantly gathered the ingredients laid out on the counter, then brought them over to the island.

"**PERFECT! LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE EVERYTHING HERE! MILK, SUGAR, EGGS...OH! WAIT JUST A MAGNIFICENT MOMENT! HOW COULD I FORGET!**"

"What?"

"**WE'RE MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT!**"

"...Flour?" she guessed.

"**NO, YOU SILLY** **GOOSE!**"

And that was when he pulled something out of the shelf in the island in front of him and faced the unsuspecting human with it.

A chainsaw.

"**A HUMAN SOUL!**"

The moment he revved the deadly contraption up, she stumbled backward with a yelp and dug into her pack to fetch her bow and arrows.

"Get yourself a new recipe, bud!"

"**IT'S A BIT TOO LATE FOR THAT NOW! EVERYONE'S WAITING FOR-**"

And that was when they both heard the sound of a phone ringing.

Though it wasn't Ginger's. It sounded more like it was coming from inside...Mettaton himself? Did Alphys install a phone directly into his system?

"**YES? HELLO? WHO IS IT? I'M KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING HERE.**"

"_W-wait a second!_"

"Alphys?"

Her voice was as clear as day coming from the robot's internal phone system.

"_Couldn't you make a...Couldn't you use...Uh...C-couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?_"

"**...A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN, USE A DIFFERENT, NON-HUMAN INGREDIENT? FOR WHATEVER REASON?**"

"_Well, what if...Uh...What if someone's...vegan?_"

"**...VEGAN.**"

"_Uh, well, I mean-_"

"**THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA, DR. ALPHYS! AS A MATTER OF FACT, I JUST SO HAPPEN TO HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE RIGHT HERE! MTT-BRAND ALWAYS-CONVENIENT HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOR-SUBSTITUTE! A CAN OF WHICH IS JUST OVER THERE ON THAT COUNTER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM!**"

The human peered over; there was indeed a small counter there, and there was the can of...Human SOUL substitute...That unearthed a lot of questions.

"...How do you even know what a human SOUL tastes like? As far as I know, nobody's absorbed-"

"**OH, LESS TALK, MORE STEP, DARLING! WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD AND BRING IT OVER?**"

"Didn't I tell you to cut it with the pet names?"

"**OH, COME NOW, IT ADDS A BIT OF SPARK TO THINGS, DOESN'T IT? BESIDES, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IF I DON'T?**"

"What's gonna happen is you're gonna have a bad time!"

* * *

**_MEANWHILE_**

* * *

"ERM...ARE YOU ALRIGHT, SANS? YOU'RE EYES WENT DARK."

"...i dunno. i felt...a disturbance in the force. like...like someone just stole my catchphrase, somewhere...weird...oh well, probably nothing major happening. i'm goin' to hotland, 'kay, bro?"

"CAN YOU AT LEAST PICK UP YOUR SOCK FIRST?"

"get undyne to do it."

"I'm not picking up your smelly laundry! And now that you're back, I think it's about time you and I have a discussion about this whole-"

"that dog's back."

"Huh!?"

"WHERE!?"

They both diverted their attention to the kitchen, but found no dog.

"SANS! DID YOU SEE WHERE IT-"

He was no longer there.

"URGH! That slippery little snail! How does he DO that!?"

"MY BROTHER IS A CREATURE OF MUCH SPECULATION."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"**WELL, I GUESS WE'LL HAVE TO SEE JUST WHAT HAPPENS, FOLKS. JUST GO ON AHEAD AND FETCH THAT.**"

"Egh...Fine...Alphys, you still there?" she asked over her own phone.

"_Uh, yeah! I-I can make multiple calls at once with this thing._"

"This whole cooking show shebang is making me hungry myself. Hey, maybe I should see what's in that fridge, huh?"

"_D-do you really think now's a good time to be getting a snack...? Uh...Well...I guess I'm not in any place to judge you for that._"

"Monster food's good, but it's not...you know, filling. I guess it reacts differently with humans."

"_Yeah, y-you've got a point. B-besides, I'm the one sitting on my bed eatin' potato chips in my PJs!_"

Ginger snorted.

"Sounds like you're busy," she mused.

"_Uhh...Heh, uh...P-pretend I never said that, okay?_"

"Don't sweat it, Alphy. Just let me bring this-"

She was just about to grab the can when the counter it was on recoiled...

Then sprang up out of the ground, revealing that there was perhaps a good dozens of dozens of feet of even more hiding away underneath it! Within a matter of seconds, it had almost reached the roof of the cavern, it'd gotten so high!

"**BY THE WAY, WE RUN ON A FAIRLY STRICT PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE,**" Mettaton buzzed at her. "**SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO HURRY UP, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET THAT CAN WITHIN THE NEXT MINUTE, WE'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO STICK WITH THE ORIGINAL PLAN.**"

"Alphys, how am I going to to this!? AND I CAN'T EVEN CLIMB THIS THING, IT'S TOO RISKY AND THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME!"

"_Uh, don't panic! I-I have an idea! Here, put it on speaker a-and I'll give you further directions from there!_"

She followed her instruction in a hurry.

"Now what!?"

"_Okay! Y-you see that big button o-on the side of the phone that says 'JETPACK?' Press it!_"

"'Jetpack?'"

"_I, uh...a-added a few, um...extra features when I was upgrading your phone. J-just press it! You'll see what I mean!_"

Sure enough, there was an obvious, square red button on the side of the phone that had the word on it in stark white. She pushed it, and the phone began to make an odd whirring noise as it rose from her grasp into midair.

And then, it opened up, expanded tenfold, then divided into two sections before fastening itself onto her back and firing up.

"Uh...What's this thing do, huh?"

"_I-it's capable of giving even the least aerodynamic creatures the ability to defy the force of gravity!_"

"Defy gravity...? Wait. You mean-"

"_Y-yeah! You know! Fly!_"

_Fly..._

She never thought it'd be possible without wings. But if the jetpack could carry her as well as the former, she wouldn't have an issue. She knew all of the basic fundamentals of flight; takeoff, drag, lift, speed maneuvers, aerial combat. She had it all stored away for future use.

_And the future is now,_ she marveled to herself.

"_You should have just enough fuel to make it to the top! I-I would have tried to fit more in, but it would have taken too-_"

"You did more than enough, Alphys. Let me handle this."

"_Oh...Okay! Get on up there!_"

All she had to do was jump...

And her buried instincts kicked in again.

She found herself being carried farther and farther up, almost as though she'd never lost her wings to begin with. She stiffened her form, and began to shoot like a needle up through the air and towards the dirt roof of the Underground.

She was just starting to form a confident smirk when she saw a familiar, rectangular figure hovering above, sporting his own jet function.

"Oh, no..."

"**YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WITH A FEW TRICKS UP THEIR SLEEVE, HUMAN? YOU MUST REALLY THINK YOU'RE...EGGCELLENT!**"

He pulled out the carton of eggs from the other counter as visual representation of the pun. Ginger would have snickered at it had he not begun to tip the carton down and let the eggs spill out and begin barreling towards her from above.

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" she remarked, tilting to the left to avoid some of the falling projectiles.

"**AND WHAT ARE _YOU _GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? OH, MY. THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR, DOESN'T IT?**"

He tossed one of the eggs down at her with his gloved hand, and she barely dodged it; it grazed her shoulder, leaving a small splatter of egg white on the sleeve. Ginger grimaced at the sensation, then emitted a nasty growl.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do about it!"

"**WHAT?**" he retorted, now revealing the sugar and sending a barrage of it down.

"I'll do a barrel roll!"

And a barrel roll she did, using the swift spin maneuver to skillfully dodge the oncoming puffs as they hurdled downward in rows. It'd taken her a good two months to perfect when she first began her training, but her training had been well worth the while.

_...If only Nyra could see me now._

"**JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO FANCY TRICKS, YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE EDGE? WELL, I'LL SEE TO THAT, HUMAN!**"

"And another thing!" Ginger spat as she spun to the side again, eyeing the milk carton Mettaton had now armed himself with. "I have a name, and it's not 'Human'!"

"**WHAT A SHAME.**"

That was when he tipped the carton over and let the milk spill out in a steady stream like a waterfall.

"URGH! Serpentine!" Ginger cried as she deployed the move to dodge the flowing obstacle. She made the mistake of letting it splash onto her by trying another barrel roll to avoid it as it began to spiral, and she could feel it push down on her, hindering her speed. Alphys had said there was only so much fuel in her jetpack; it seemed like she wasn't the only one here who knew this.

"**I GOT SO USED TO CALLING YOU THAT. AND NOW IT'S JUST GOING TO BE AWKWARD. JUST LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE. YOU'VE EMBARRASSED** **YOURSELF!**"

"Oh, if I can embarrass myself, then you better believe I can do it to other people, too!"

"_**REALLY, **_**NOW! AND HOW-**"

"Corkscrew!"

"**PADRON ME?**"

His confusion to the outburst was answered when he saw the human begin to spin again. But this was no barrel roll; she was going in a straight line upwards.

And she was getting faster every second, the maneuver allowing her to cut right up through the air like a drill...Right towards him!

The robot moved out of the way just in time to evade his guest star as she shot upwards past him.

"**OH, DEAR ME! DON'T YOU REALIZE YOU COULD HAVE DENTED SOMETHING THERE?!**"

"That was my plan!"

"**OH, CHEEKY! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?**"

To answer him, the human passed up the top of the extended counter just as the jetpack began to sputter, and she stopped mere feet away from the ceiling of the cavern, where she flipped forward to showboat and then fell to the top of the counter, bracing her fall with her knee and hand before looking to Mettaton again as he rose to face her, a confident gleam in her eyes as she rose back to her feet.

"I," she announced to him. "am General Ginger Wingren. And I've trained alongside some of the most elite fighters on the face of the surface world to put to rest the likes of the evil and impure. In my home country, I'm one of the most revered warriors our kind has ever boasted. I've traveled overseas and across the wilderness, fighting for our honor and expanding our forces. I am an explorer. I am a soldier. I. Am a Pure One. That is who I am."

_Ooh...Nice monologue,_ Alphys said to herself, having heard everything.

"**...MY, MY. WELL, _GENERAL,_ IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU'VE LIVED UP TO YOUR CLAIMS OF GREATNESS FOR THE TIME BEING. BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAD THE HELP OF THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS! OH, HOW I LOATHE TO THINK OF WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU WITHOUT HER ASSISTANCE.**"

"What are you? Jealous? It sounds that way. Boy, oh boy. Just think; she'd rather help out me than you. Doesn't that get on your nerves?" she teased him.

For a moment, Mettaton's facial grid flashed red, and she could have sworn she heard him growl, just a bit. But it wasn't long before it was yellow again.

"**YOU KNOW WHAT? I TIP MY CHEF'S HAT TO YOU; YOU REALLY ARE SOMETHING SPECIAL. WELL...UNTIL NEXT TIME!**"

"Yeah, good riddance..."

"**OH. AND ONE MORE THING. ABOUT THE HUMAN SOUL SUBSTITUTION...HAVEN'T YOU EVER WATCHED A COOKING SHOW BEFORE?**"

"No."

"**OH...WELL, GUESS WHAT? I ALREADY BAKED THE CAKE AHEAD OF TIME! SO FORGET ABOUT IT!**"

Before she could spit out another insult at him, he'd flown away and out of sight. The jetpack folded back into itself, then clattered to the top of the counter by Ginger's feet, where she picked it back up from, opening it again and giving Alphys another ring.

"_H...hey. Y-you did it. We...We really did it!_"

"Yeah...Thanks for installing that, Alphys. Uh...Now that he's gone, I can say it; he was right. If it hadn't been for your help, I'd be a bloody, mangled mess right now; bows and arrows can only do so much against a hunk of steel, you know? You really did go the extra mile with this thing, and it saved my skin. I owe you for that, too."

"_...Oh, c-come on, you don't owe me anything. I..._"

She paused for a moment, seeming a bit more nervous than usual.

"_...I-I'm...just happy to b-be of help, is all._"

"~Aww, what'd I do to deserve as great a friend as you, huh?"

"_You...You didn't do anything,_" she mumbled.

"What'd you say?"

"_Uh, n-nothing! Just...thinking about stuff, is all!_"

As the countertop suddenly began to descend back into the ground, they continued their conversation. Alphys perked back up quickly, and was beyond impressed by what she'd just witnessed from the human.

"_Anyways, that...Wow...Th-that was incredible! How'd you do all that?_"

"What? The comebacks?"

"_N-no, the stuff with the jetpack! The barrel rolls, the serpentine, th-the corkscrew move at the end! I've tried to use that thing before a-and all I did was get thrown around and crash. B-but you!? It's...almost like you've used one before! Uh...Have you?_"

"Well...Not exactly, but you could say I have some experience in the air."

"_Oh, wow. A-and the monologue at the end w-was super neat. Did you think that up right off the batt?_"

"Well, uh...Yes. I, uh, wouldn't exactly call in a 'monologue', though. I was just giving that guy a piece of my mind."

"_W-well, you did what you did well! Ah...P-pardon me, if it sounds like a weird question, but...Are you really an explorer, a-and all that stuff?_"

"I've been almost six thousand miles south in the Amazon and eight thousand miles out to sea. It's no lie. I've been known for my ability to get around."

"_...Dang. A-and you're...You're a general, too? In an army o-or something like that?_"

"Well...Technically, I'm still a trainee, but I've gotten a lot done. And I AM the leader of my own squadron up on the surface, so it's still the truth."

"_D-do you have, like, weapons and armor?_"

"Heck, yeah we have weapons and armor! Although, what I have at home is a little different from this bow and Temmie Armor I have with me now. I've got a helmet with a row of spikes goin' down the face, and my weapons...Uh...They're called 'battleclaws'. Just picture a metal casing on the hand with pointed tips, and that's basically the idea. Good melee weapons; would have made some down here, but they're, uh...Not the best for this type of defensive combat. Heh."

"_Whoa...I-it's like y-you're a-an anime protagonist, or something. That's amazing!_"

"...A what protagonist?"

"_U-uh...I-I'll have to explain it t-to you sometime, I-I guess, heh...Uh...W-well, let's keep moving f-forward, okay?_"

"Got it."

"_H-hey, keep me on for just a bit longer, okay? There's something up ahead I-I might need to explain, if you end up wondering about it._"

"What's that?"

Curious, Ginger approached another Save Point up past the kitchen setup, and she looked out in the distance across the sea of magma. An ominous-looking structure loomed off in the distance, the image of it distorted ever so slightly by the heatwaves rising up from the molten rock. She brusher her foot through it, her eyes glued onto the edifice.

***Hotland-Core View**

***File Saved**

"...What is that thing?"

"_Th-that's the CORE; the source of all of the electrical power of the Underground. It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity by...uh...I-it's kinda hard to explain w-without it sounding like I'm s-speaking some foreign language. But anyway, that's where we're going. The path through the CORE leads directly to the elevator system that'll take you up to Asgore's castle, and from...f-from there, you can...G-go home._"

"Uh...You alright over there, Alphy? You sound a little choked up all of a sudden."

"_Oh, heh, j-just my sinuses acting up again, that's all. Nothing serious._"

"Well...Okay, then. Anything else?"

"_Uh, n-no, that's it. Just letting you know what it is a-and why that's where we're headed. Uh...T-talk to you soon._"

"Later, Alphys."

And then she was gone. Ginger kept going, but not without letting a skeptical eyebrow raise; there was definitely something bothering Alphys besides her sinuses.

She came up to an elevator at the end of the path, labeled "**R1**" in bold, glowing red letters right above the door. All she had to do was step closer and they opened right up for her, so she went ahead and stepped inside. The control panel before her had two different options for her to choose from.

"**Please select a location.**

**-Left Floor 1  
-Right Floor 2**

That was when her phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"_Hi! Uh, I just remembered! The elevator! Y-you gotta take it to Right Floor 2 to keep going! The left one will just bring you back to the western border b-by the lab._"

"I got it. Thanks, pal."

"_N-no problem._"

_*click..._

She followed the instructions accordingly; the elevator vibrated a bit as it ascended, but overall, it was a smooth ride. When it finally stopped, the metal doors whooshed back open, revealing a new, unfamiliar part of Hotland for her to get past. She kept going; there was a wider section in the path ahead, and there, sitting at a sentry station, was what looked to be...

"Sans!"

"'ey, kid. how's it hangin'?"

"Oh, you know. Robot shenanigans, if you know what I mean. It's tiresome..."

"really? you don't look all that tired."

"Well, I did just get through a pretty exciting ordal; heartrate's still up there, and all...Alright, don't tell anyone this, but even though it gives me a workout, I've gotta admit; this whole ordeal is actually sorta fun. Hey, I just got to use a freakin' jetpack. That's not exactly what one might call 'boring.' Mettaton's weird about it, though; it's like he's not even TRYING to stop me. He had a CHAINSAW on him, and he decides he's gonna try to stop my flying by pouring his cake ingredients onto me? Wasted opportunity there, even if I AM glad he wasted it. Plus, I've got the doc helpin' me out, so this should be a breeze. But anyways, no, I'm not all that tired. If anything, I'm just hungry."

"you're in luck. i'm stocked and sellin'."

"Really?"

"yep."

"In that case, I wonder what's for dinner."

That was when the skeleton brought up something from inside his sentry station; a prepared tray of sausages, buns and condiments, all laid neatly out on the front desk.

"so whadaya say, pal? wanna buy a hot dog? it's only 30G."

She was about to ask what exactly they were, but when the sweet smell of meat wafted up from the sausage links, she decided then and there that it didn't matter.

"Deal...Maybe put some ketchup on that."

"heh...i like your style."

He whipped it up surprisingly quickly and handed it out to the human.

"thanks, kid. here's your dog."

"Alright..."

She veraciously bit into one end of the frankfurter and ripped the end right off like it was the first thing she'd eaten in weeks.

"...Mah boi," she exclaimed through a mouthful of hot dog. "This is what all true warriors strive for; some good freaking food!"

"wow...you weren't kiddin' about bein' hungry, huh?"

"Nope."

She swallowed.

"So, uh, how's it been? Fish-face destroy any furniture yet?"

"no. in fact, papyrus called just a bit ago; he says he and undyne are havin', like, a picnic or something outside. he wanted to show off his new cooking skills that you helped 'im out with, since he won't eat at grillby's...poor sap."

"Well, I hope he made lotsa spaghetti. Why don't you pop in there and serenade them with your trombone solo when they least expect it?"

"my god...papyrus'd prob'ly be confused."

"I know. That'd make it even more funny."

Sans let out a hiccuppy laugh.

"kid...honestly, i knew a human was gonna fall down here at some point that i was gonna have to deal with, but i didn't expect a wild card like you. i will say, though; for a wild card, you turned out to be a pretty good draw. just keep up what you've been doin' and things should turn out, you know what i'm sayin'?"

"Ha! That, ah...means a lot. Thanks."

"people down here really love ya. man, if they don't love you on the surface, something's wrong...do they?"

"Well...Yes, they do. But back where I'm from, I...saved the jokes for, you know, when me and my friends were in private. Just being friendly wouldn't have gotten me that far back home, so I...was kind of emotionally reserved. Since...since then, I guess...things changed a bit. One way of life doesn't always work in different places."

"well, good news is, it looks to me they've changed for the better."

"You think so?"

"pretty sure. but what do i know? i'm just some bonehead that sits around and cracks jokes all day, am i right?"

"...I see what you did there."

"heh. thought you would."

"So...uh...Mind if I just hang around here for a while? It's like, what?"

She checked the time on her phone.

"Holy racdrops, it's almost 11:30 at night up there."

That was when the exhaustion began to catch up to her.

"Uh...dude...Remember what I said about not being tuckered out?"

"yeah."

"...That just-" She yawned. "...changed. I think I'm gonna roost here for a while. not gonna drive away any customers, am I?"

"come on. who you gonna bother? not me."

"Heh...Thanks man."

"see you when ya come around."

Ginger set out her cloak on the ground away from the middle of the path and hunkered down on it. Sleep took her quickly, and the last thing she heard before it did was the seemingly distant ambiance of the volcanic sea below, overtaken, suddenly, by a bout of snoring coming from Sans.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"...What is this place?"_

_She was walking on wide, open terrain, save for a small, grass-covered mountain that loomed over head. The sky was overcast, the breeze was strong, and there was not a soul to be seen._

_But there were ones to be heard._

_Ginger heard what sounded to be a multitude of footsteps approaching from far off. She ran across the grassy ground and up the slope of the mountain to see what was happening. When she finally reached the top, she staggered to a screeching halt at what she witnessed._

_A vast fleet of humans, armed and angry-looking, stood behind seven cloaked figures. Each of the cloaks were a different color: deep violet, dark indigo, sky blue, verdant green, sunny yellow, fiery orange and bright red._

_...All the different colors of the rainbow, hidden by white until the light struck a prism and refracted._

_But the striking colors of the cloaks could hardly distract her from the terrible sight that sat before the humans; monsters, young and old, big and small, of all different kinds, were cowering at their mercy, some only slightly scuffed and bruised, others bloodied, and some even missing entire limbs. One monster in particular caught her attention, who was at the front of his party. It was a young Boss Monster, she could tell, kneeling in submission to the humans; male, judging by his horns, each of which were a good seven inches long. But he was young; barely an adult, it looked like, despite his careworn face, the white fur on which was stained with the blood and grit of war._

_"Prince Asgore," the human in the yellow addressed him, his tone harsh and grating. "You know full well why you are here, do you not?"_

_"Please..." the monster pleaded, tears streaming down his face and collecting dirt. "There doesn't need to be any more bloodshed. Mercy, I beg of you, please!"_

_"There will be no more bloodshed," the indigo one, with a female voice, added, her tone slightly more sympathetic. "After much debate, we have all decided what must be done with monsterkind, in order to protect humanity; through the combined power of my fellow mages, you will all be sealed away inside the caverns on this very mountain. Not only to protect the human race from your powers, but to prevent your genocide at the hands of those more cruel than us. That is the best we can do, for everyone."_

_"Now, get in there," the orange one urged, no remorse in her tone._

_Prince Asgore complied, and Ginger watched as he gave the order for his people to enter into the cave opening. The monsters all trudged in. Some maintained their dignity. Others wept. But almost all of them took one last look up at the sun, which was just starting to peek out from the clouds, before they were sealed away from its light and warmth forever._

_Ginger caught sight of another monster in particular among the multitude entering the cave; another Boss Monster; about as old as Asgore, but female; her horns, still covered in white velvet, were nothing but tiny, pointed nubs. After looking up at the sun one more time, she locked her gaze with Asgore, who had turned his head to face her. Each of them nodded solemnly to one another, and then the prince faced the mages again._

_Perhaps that was his princess, and maybe soon-to-be queen; there were no king and queen in sight. Maybe they'd been killed._

_"...Should mankind ever find a way to live alongside monsters again," the one in the green cloak told the prince. "We will provide a way to reverse the spell. Through a power equivalent to seven human SOULs, representing we, the ones who constructed it in the first place, the Barrier can be broken."_

_"Seven human SOULs. But...Wouldn't that require us to kill them?"_

_"Perhaps," the one in the blue cloak replied. "If the eventual humans give them willingly, that will be the era where you should regain your freedom."_

_"Anything will be able to pass through the Barrier from the outside," the violet cloaked human explained. "But only beings with a powerful enough SOUL can re-emerge."_

_"Now...Go join your brethren," the one in red finished. "But don't lose hope. Hold fast to the kingdom you still have. And above all, stay determined."_

_Prince Asgore entered the cavern, and then the seven mages revealed long, staff-like wands hidden away in their cloaks. There was a flash of blinding light, and it swamped the entire field. Ginger shut her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded._

_And then, as suddenly as it appeared the light disappeared._

_And, seemingly, so had the entrance to the cavern, along with all of the monsters._

_In fact, EVERYTHING had disappeared, and the landscape had changed drastically. In fact, i__t felt as though even her own body had changed, yet her new sensations felt so familiar. To see for herself, Ginger __looked down at her arms._

_No longer were they arms, but they had turned back into wings. And black-clawed talons stuck out from her feet._

_"...I'm an owl again? But...How? And where am I?"_

_She was no longer standing on the grassy top of Mount Ebott, but rather barren, dark, rocky ground. The sky above was blood red, streaked with crimson clouds, and the smoldering smell of smoke filled the atmosphere._

_And there were now not one, but a tight collection of FIVE mountains in the near distance. Towering mountains that spewed great clouds of smoke and red hot streams of lava from the craters at each of their tops. Volcanoes; all of them. And these were no ordinary mounts._

_This...This was the Sacred Ring. She'd never seen the volcanoes for herself, but there was no mistaking them. Dunmore, Morgan, Kiel, Stormfast, and Hrath'ghar loomed above in all their fiery glory, and the howl of the wolves of the Sacred Watch could be heard echoing for all to hear. But Dunmore looked different from the rest; it was transparent, and sparkled like crystal, almost as though it were made of..._

Glass, _she realized. The volcano Dunmore had turned to glass, revealing the lava and glowing coals inside of it. Along with..._

_The silhouette of an owl shot up out of the volcano's crater, carrying something in its talons. The owl rose to the sky, revealing himself. It was a young Spotted Owl, and the object in his talons was an ember. A brilliant ember, glowing red and orange with a lick of blue at its center, and in between the blue and the flaming orange was a thin ring of green. As thin as it was, it glowed as bright a green as the eyes of the Dire Wolves. Only one ember had that green ring._

_"The Ember of Hoole," she whispered. "And...King Hoole himself!"_

_The howl of the wolves grew softer, and the smoky clouds settled on the ground into a smog, growing thicker, obscuring her vision. It wasn't long until everything went grey, but she still stood there, ever in awe of the sight of one of the most significant events in the entire history of owlkind._

_As well as that of monsterkind._

_And before the howling of the wolves completely subsided, Ginger heard a voice, whispering somewhere in the darkness. So hurt, so troubled, so familiar, yet...so vague._

_"__The Angel is coming, Ginger...Save him."_

* * *

_..._

* * *

"The Legends...!"

She awoke with a bolt, still feeling the heat of the Sacred Ring about the atmosphere. But then came the sudden shock; one minute, her mind was perceiving her as a Tyto Alba, and the very next moment, BAM! Reality struck, and she found herself in a human's body again. Ginger held her head in her hands; the realization of what had just occurred not only caused a bout of shock, but also one of depression. And the heat wasn't from the Sacred Ring, but rather Hotland.

But the unpleasentness of what she'd just experienced faded quickly when she began to piece together her strange vision of a dream.

The war of Humans and Monsters. The aftermath. The mages. The first King Asgore. And then, the retrieval of the Ember of Hoole from a thousand years ago?

_...Wait._

A thousand years ago...Wasn't that how long it'd been since the War of Humans and Monsters? But at the same time.

That was when she realized some of what it meant. At the exact moment the monsters were sealed underneath Mount Ebott, King Hoole, first rightful ruler of the Great Tree, retrieved the Ember of Hoole from the volcano Dunmore. An interesting coincidence, she realized...Was it significant in any way? Was there something tying the two events together?

_...Is it me?_

She'd come from the Owl Kingdoms and fallen into the mountain. Was she a part of the puzzle somehow? Where did she fit?

And the Angel was coming? The voice had addressed her by name; a young voice, one that she felt as though she should have known.

_Save him,_ it said...Save HIM. So, then, she WASN'T the Angel.

"...That's a relief," she breathed.

But why did he need to be saved? Where was he? WHO was he? Was he human? Monster? Something else entirely?

Only time would tell. One thing was for sure, though; if she had to retrieve this Angel, she had to keep going.

She checked the time on her phone again; five in the morning. She'd slept a good six hours, but it did her good, she had to admit.

"up already?"

"Sans...!? You're still here!?"

"well, duh. what do you think i was doin' this whole time?"

"Uh...Well, judging by what I heard right before I conked out, I'd say you were doing the same as me?"

"man, you're good. i'm startin' to think i'm losin' my edge."

"Don't worry about it. You still do get me half the time, you know?"

"heh...if you say so."

"I guess I'll pack up and...Ugh. Hungry again. Mind if I have another one of them dogs?"

"whoops. sorry kid. all out of hot dogs. but if you want, i can give you a hot cat instead."

"A what?"

"check it."

He pulled something new out from inside his stand; it looked exactly like the hot dog she'd ordered earlier...except with little pointed pieces of meat on one end of the sausage that looked like cat ears sticking up out of it.

"oh, and the ketchup's gone, too...my bad. want some mustard instead? relish? kraut?"

"Sure. Give me the whole works, how 'bout it? I'll tip ya another 5G."

"deal."

The exchange was made, but Ginger just had to take one whiff of the sauerkraut on the hot cat to begin regretting her request for "the whole works". Sans noticed her face contort at the strange smell, and offered his input.

"trust me; it might smell kinda funky, but it goes good on the franks. go on 'n' give it a go, eh?"

"Well...You're the expert, I guess."

He really WAS the expert; it tasted strange, but it was the good kind of strange, and the hot cat was gone before either of them even knew it.

"You know, it's weird, Sans; pushin' four days ago I didn't even know any of you existed, and now here I am thinking you make the best doggone hot dogs on the face of the earth. Talk about a change of perspective, huh?"

"life's weird that way, ain't it?"

"Life's weird in a lot of ways...So, uh, I think I'm gonna take off. Thanks again for the grub, man."

"later."

The human started again down the path again, her mind still ablaze. What would the Underground throw at her next?

...The Angel, maybe? And if so, how would she help him?

_Again, _she reminded herself. _If the prophecy is true, only time will tell._

* * *

_**A.N.: **_**Here's a challenge for all y'all! See how many meme references you can spot in this fanfiction so far! A couple I feel were kind of forced in this chapter(e.g. the blatant Hotel Mario reference) but it's my fanfiction and I can do as I please with it, ya dinguses.**

**Well, see you guys next time. Happy Thanksgiving! :D**


	23. Chapter 21: Undernet Hijinks

"Maybe if I'm lucky, there'll be some air conditioning in the CORE," Ginger remarked, a bit tired of the intense heat.

-**ALPHYS posted a picture**

***dinner with the girlfriend ;)**

It was a photo of an oddly familiar-looking figurine of a human...with cat ears and a tail, situated beside a bowl of noodles.

* * *

_**COMMENTS**_

* * *

**DefinitelyNotAHuman: "Dinner"? Alphys, it's five in the morning. I think that qualifies as breakfast...Unless you're nocturnal, that is.**

**-ALPHYS: wat rly? OMG YOUR RIGHT I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT LOL IM SUCH A DOPE XDDD**

**\- -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Not a bad picture, though.**

**\- - -thx ^. ^**

* * *

**-COOLSKELETON95 posted a picture.**

***ARE WE POSTING HOT "PICS?" HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND**

She took a look at his post, then snorted.

It was a photo of Papyrus himself, flexing in front of the mirror and wearing shades as though he was Aaron...which he might as well have been, had the obviously fake biceps pasted onto his arms been more well edited. And the biceps themselves ALSO had shades on them. The more she looked at it, the funnier the picture got, and she found herself bursting out in a fit of laughter. It was too much.

"Hey, what's up, huh? What's so funny?"

The human looked up from her cellphone to see that another monster was trying to peer over her shoulder to see the image. An odd-looking fellow; he had a bright, mischievous smile and a coiled, almost ropelike body, ending in two large feet. It appeared as though his head had been set ablaze, and it looked very much charred beneath the orange flames spewing from it.

"Oh, uh, this. Check it out."

"Yo, dude! Is that COOLSKELETON95'S post!? I dig that guy! He's hilarious!"

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***lol, COOLSKELETON95! ...that's a joke, right?**

**-COOLSKELETON95 updated status**

***THE ONLY JOKE HERE, IS HOW STRONG MY MUSCLES ARE.**

"Ha...You know, half the time, I don't even think he tries to be, he's that good at what he does."

"Dude, seriously?" he asked, getting right up into her face.

"Uh...Yeah?"

Despite not being able to see the monster's eyes, she could tell that he realized something as he stared right at her from an inch away.

"...Wait. You look kinda weird, you know?"

"Uh..."

"Yo, wait. The guards around here said something about...Are you the-"

"Looks like ya got me, huh?"

"The human! Duuuuude, I can't believe I didn't see this earlier."

The monster fired up an attack; the bullets were similar in structure and concept to the ones Papyrus had used in his battle; rising and falling projectiles, and in between them were orange magic attacks in the shape of flames.

_Orange..._

So that meant she had to move through the bullets as they passed by instead of just jumping over the white ones. She did as so, but somehow managed to get clipped on her last jump by one of the white rope bullets, hissing in pain after it made contact.

"Ha! Hot enough for ya, human!?" he mocked.

"Urgh...You need to CHILL out!" Ginger retorted, still hissing at the newly forming burn mark on her arm.

"CHILL OUT?! What do you think you are? A Snowdrake?"

"Well, I actually think it'd be pretty ICE to be one, don't you?"

"UGH! Ice puns! My number one PET PEEVE! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Oh, stop givin' me the COLD shoulder, pal."

"Aw, naw, this ain't worth it! Let someone else try to take your SOUL, this'll drive me nuts!"

"Come on. Don't be such a SNOWFLAKE."

"_**AAAAAUUUUUUURRRRRRGH!**_"

In a huff, the rope monster bounced away, appalled by the human's tasteless, let alone cold sense of humor.

"Heh...Snowflake...Well...I guess that's one method of defense."

Ginger continued down the westward path, but didn't get very far before her phone beeped again.

**-NABSTABLOOK22 has sent you a friend request. Accept the request?**

***Accept  
*Reject**

"'Ey, Napstablook!"

She was about to accept the request, but the popup disappeared before she could tap the icon.

"Huh...?"

Strange...It was almost as though the request rejected itself. Sadly strange...Oh, well. Maybe he'd try again another time and then she'd get the chance.

Ginger approached another pair of conveyer belts, each going in an opposite direction. There appeared to be a series of switches lining the one to her right; the one leading away from her and continuing to the next part of the path.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"_H-hey! It's...Doc..._"

Alphys yawned from the other end of the line.

"Tired, Al'?"

"_A_ _little..._"

The raptor tried to be chipper, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was drained from being up all night, doing Glaux knows what.

"_Uh, about this puzzle right here. It's kinda...um...timing-based. You see those switches over there?_"

"Plain as day."

"_Well, basically, what you gotta do i-is flip all three of them within three seconds. B-but trust me; it's not as hard as it sounds, as long as you time everything right!_"

"Lemme give it a go."

She stretched her legs out to prepare them; this puzzle would requite speed and precision.

Then, she bolted across the conveyer belt, letting her finger swipe over each of the three switches as she passed them. With the speed of the conveyer belt paired with the switches being triggered, she was on the other side in no time flat, and the electric barrier that blocked off the rest of the path ahead dissipated in an instant.

"How was that, Alphys?"

"_W-wow, that was great! I-if we keep it up, we'll be to..._" She yawned again. "_...New Home in no time...!_"

"Uh, how 'bout you take a break, bud? I know, weird thing to say, but it honestly sounds like you haven't slept a wink."

"_U-uh, heh...You sure you won't need any help w-while I'm MIA?_"

"If you think I'll end up in a jam, I'll just sorta take things slowly for a while. I should be fine, granted Mettaton doesn't decide to show his rectangular rear end again...Er, no offense to your work, of course, Doctor. You ARE the one who built him."

"_Yeah, n-none taken. Uh...I'm gonna go get a bit of shut-eye. See you in an hour, o-or two, maybe._"

"Rest easy."

She was gone again.

"Alright, let's see just what we have..."

The next puzzle made itself visible.

"...Here...Oh. Oh, dear Glaux..."

She wasn't going to be getting out of THIS one that easily. It was a steam vent puzzle, but there were buttons involved, as well as multiple arrows per vent.

"...Well, time to ask the Undernet."

After a good five minutes of figuring out the camera controls on the cellphone, she snapped a quick photo of the layout before her and posted.

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman posted a picture.**

***Um, puzzle help, anyone? Don't want to rush in blindly; it looks a little confusing.**

* * *

**_COMMENTS_**

* * *

**BrattyNOTCATTY: oh GAWD NO isn't this the one with all the pressure plates with the arrows and stuff?**

**-CattyNOTBRATTY: yeah u still remember that? its been like what 5 years?**

**\- -BrattyNOTCATTY: they still haunt me it took me forever to get to the lab that day**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Sounds like a tricky one. Know anyone who might be of assistance?**

**\- - - -BrattyNOTBCTTY: idk ask joe**

**\- - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Who's Joe?**

**\- - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: Joe mama**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: ...Was that supposed to be a joke?**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Because it was hilarious.**

**\- - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: LOOOOOLLLLL GOTCHA XD**

**\- - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: but jokes aside maybe u shoud ask alphys**

**\- - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: She's offline; napping, I think. Don't tell her I told you, but I suspect she stayed up all night.**

**\- - - - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: oh wow. like, girl needs 2 get a life amirite?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: ya like we never see her in person anymore**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Wait, you two knew her personally?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: totally. used to live on our street when we were younger.**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: ya she's like sort of a big sister to us. you meet her or something?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Passed through her lab yesterday evening; she's been guiding me through Hotland. Big help. ^. ^**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: By the way, is this supposed to be a face? (^. ^)**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: um duh? what did you think it was? a pizza roll?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: No; just confirming to be sure. Can you make other expressions besides the happy one?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: heres a **[link]** u can copy and paste these emoticons if u want**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Emoticons? Is that what they're called? Wow...There are so many!**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: omg ur such a n00b**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Guys, go easy on me. I'm new to this whole Undernet thing; I lived under a rock, remember?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: sorry but its true**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: but b careful out there i hear theres a human wandering around hotland**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: ya keep an eye out 4 it**

**StrongFish91: Wanna hear MY idea for a puzzle? Picture a conveyer belt loop lined with basketball hoops; the belt keeps getting faster and faster until it makes you sick, and you need to puke in all four hoops in four seconds in order to get off!**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: No conveyer belt necessary. The only thing it takes to make me sick is your face. XD**

**\- -StrongFish91: Wait...That's YOU!? You friggin' pulled a Sans!?**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Maybe.**

**\- - - -StrongFish91: Oh, SO MANY people are gonna be fooled by that username. You must think you're REEEAAALLY clever.**

**\- - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Well, if YOU'RE so smart, why don't you explain this puzzle to me?**

**\- - - - - -StrongFish91: Well, why can't you do it for yourself? Or do you have sod for brains?**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: It's better than having COD for brains. Now stop being a pain in my BASS and let MINNOW how this thing works.**

**\- - - - - - - -StrongFish91: That's it. I'm out. Get Sans to help you if you wanna pull that shit.**

**definitelynotsans: ey kid. puzzle dilemma?**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: Yeah, sort of. Any advice on this one?**

**\- -definitelynotsans: west, south, south, west, north, south, north, north, west. there's your answer.**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Wow...Thanks for that! :D**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Oh, since you're here, mind if I tell you something that happened?**

**\- - - -definitelynotsans: all ears**

**\- - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: This rope guy tried to fight me, and I gave him the Snowdrake treatment. He hated the ice puns so much he gave up and fled.**

**\- - - - - -definitelynotsans: that's hilarious**

**\- - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: YOU TWO ARE AS BAD AS MY BROTHER.**

**\- - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Alan.**

**\- - - - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: WHAT HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT MOVIE ONLY ME DID YOU FIND ANOTHER COPY?!**

**\- - - - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: IT'S FUNNIER THAN THE PUNS AT LEAST.**

**\- - - - - - - - - -definitelynotsans: whos alan?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Alan-swer your question the next time I see Joe.**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - -definitelynotsans: who's joe?**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - -definitelynotsans: wait**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Joe Mama**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -definitelynotsans: kid why**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Because I can.**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: THIS IS TERRIBLE, I'M LEAVING.**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -definitelynotsans: where did you even learn that?**

* * *

"Okay..." the human mumbled to herself as she followed the directions Sans had given her for the puzzle. It turned out that she had to go back to a previous vent in order to get the arrows pointing in the right direction, so she was glad that the skeleton had given her clear directions. It wasn't long until she was on the next part of the road.

"Excellent," Ginger huffed, a bit dizzy from all the high-flying through the air that the steam vent ride had caused. "Oh, boy...I gotta sit down or something."

When she moved her shaky legs again, she found that her entire outfit was not only hot, but now felt sticky and soaking wet; whether the unpleasant moisture came from her own perspiration, the humidity of the hot steam vents or a combination of the two, however, she didn't know.

And, frankly, she didn't want to.

The sooner she got out of Hotland, the better.

Another Save Point sat up ahead, next to yet another mouse hole. The accompanying table that would usually have a wedge of cheese on it was now burdened with a heavy, advanced-looking safe, with a shatter-proof glass window providing her vision inside. Ginger took a quick peek; the cheese was inside it.

It seemed like someone had a few extra precautionary measures to protect their cheese from the pesky rodent.

Ginger's stomach growled again; she would have considered trying to lure the mouse out and using one of her arrowheads to insure it a painless death before she ate it, but the more she though about it, and the more she noticed just how tiny the mouse hole was, the less she wanted to hunt it. Even if it wasn't magic food, how much would that tiny little mouse do for her human stomach? Not much, she realized, so she gave up on the idea and pulled her phone out again to fiddle around with.

-**DefinitelyNotAHuman updated status**

***Anyone ever find movies at the dump? Found a really good one there recently; I have no idea why any human would have thrown it away.**

* * *

**_COMMENTS_**

* * *

**CattyNOTBRATTY: i think alphys does that sometimes. she usually posts stuff about it**

**-BrattyNOTCATTY: yeah its usually like about this weird catgirl or something like that**

**\- -CattyNOTBRATTY: BRATTY!**

**\- - -BrattyNOTCATTY: OOPS SORRY NO OFFENSE I PROMISE**

**\- - -BrattyNOTCATTY: but like what was the movie about, DefinitelyNotAHuman?**

**\- - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: It's about an island full of dinosaurs, and the humans go on sort of a rescue mission for two others there.**

**\- - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: The story's solid, but the best part is the imagery. It looks real, the dinosaurs are awesome, and SO MANY people get eaten! XD**

**\- - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: oh god it sounds gory o_O**

**\- - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: idk sounds cool to me B-) do u think alphys would like it?**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Only one way to find out. I'll ask her the next chance I get.**

**\- - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: nO D:**

**\- - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: yes.**

**\- - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Alphys actually looks kinda like my favorite dinosaur, you know? Except less brute and more cute. :3**

**\- - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: lol yeah she's short n fuzzy ^. ^ sometimes i forget she's the older one XD**

**\- - - - - - - - - - -CattyNOTBRATTY: u think she's CUTE, huh? ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Well, yeah. For the same reasons as Bratty. :)**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: catty stop i don't think its like that -._-**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: That emoticon is awesome; it could mean so many things. I think I'll use it. XD**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -BrattyNOTCATTY: NOW LOOK WHAT YOUVE DONE CATTY D:**

**COOLSKELETON95: ME AND A COOL FRIEND OF MINE SAW THAT MOVIE TOO! WHO DO YOU THINK THREW AWAY THE SECOND COPY?**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: Dude...It's me, Papyrus.**

**\- -COOLSKELETON95: WHAT IS THAT REALLY YOU! I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED! YOU HAVE SUCH A MISLEADING USERNAME.**

**\- -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Hey, I've gotta keep people off my tail somehow. How'd your outdoor meal with Captain Yells-a-lot go?**

**\- - -COOLSKELETON95: SPLENDID! UNDYNE THOUGHT THE SPAGHETTI I MADE WAS PERFECT! THAT IS UNTIL I TOLD HER WHO GAVE ME THE TIPS FOR IT...**

**\- - -COOLSKELETON95: AND THEN SHE SAID IT WAS MEDIOCRE AND THAT I SHOULDN'T TAKE YOUR COOKING ADVICE.**

**\- - -COOLSKELETON95: AND WE HAD TO CUT IT SHORT, SINCE ALL OF HER WINTER WEAR WAS BURNED IN HER HOUSEFIRE AND SHE GOT TOO COLD.**

**\- - -COOLSKELETON95: ALSO SANS SHOWED UP WITH HIS TROMBONE BEFORE WE WENT IN. THE SONG HE PLAYED WAS...ODDLY CATCHY?**

**\- - -COOLSKELETON95: IT WAS AT LEAST BETTER THAN HIS USUAL INCIDENTAL THEME.**

**\- - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: XD I might've put that idea in his head, I think. How'd the song go?**

**\- - - - -COOLSKELETON95: LET ME ASK UNDYNE. SHES BETTER AT READING MUSIC THAN I AM**

**\- - - - -COOLSKELETON95: SHE SAID THE NOTES WENT: G-A-C-A-E E D, G-A-B-G-D D C-B-A, G-A-C-A-C D B-A-G-G-D C**

**\- - - - -COOLSKELETON95: IT'D PROBABLY BE EASIER TO READ AS SHEET MUSIC**

**\- - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Huh...That IS sorta catchy. I wonder why wrote it?**

**\- - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: SANS SAID HE FOUND THE SONG ON A CD FROM THE DUMP LIKE YOU DID THE MOVIE. HUMANS ARE SO WASTEFUL!**

**\- - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: EXCEPT FOR YOU. :D**

**\- - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Tell me about it.**

**\- - - - - - - - -COOLSKELETON95: MAYBE SHE'D LIKE THE MOVIE BETTER THAN THE SPAGHETTI. I'LL GO ASK HER! :D**

**definitelynotsans: the looks on their faces were priceless**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: I can imagine. XD**

**\- -COOLSKELETON95: HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT MY BROTHER DID, YOU TERRIBLE TROLL?**

**\- -COOLSKELETON95: WAIT A MINUTE...IF DEFINITELYNOTAHUMAN IS THE HUMAN...THEN WHAT DOES THAT MAKE DEFINITELYNOTSANS?**

**\- -COOLSKELETON95: OH. MY. GOD.**

**\- - -definitelynotsans: aight imma head out**

**\- - - -COOLSKELETON95: SAAAANS! THAT'S IT! YOU'RE BEING BLOCKED FOR A WEEK! X(**

**StrongFish91: I should have known you gave him the idea. ):-[ What were you trying to accomplish with that weird song?**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- -StrongFish91: I don't like that face...**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: I do. ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - -StrongFish91: STOP.**

**\- - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Never. ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

* * *

"Heh...Man...Technology is amazing, isn't it?"

Why hadn't she considered using Undernet earlier on? She probably could have asked Papyrus some more about it when she first went to the skeleton residence...Then again, she didn't have anything to USE it on back then; that was quite a while before she first met Alphys in person and got her phone upgraded.

Oh, well. Best not to dwell on petty things, the human decided.

She swiped her foot through the Save Point.

***Hotland-Bad Opinion Zone**

***File Saved**

"...'Bad Opinion Zone'?"

That was an...odd name for a Save Point, it seemed. Come to think of it, where did all of these Save Points get their names, anyway? They were all oddly specific; Mouse Hole, Undyne Arena, Magma Chamber, the list went on. But 'Bad Opinion Zone' topped her chart. Someone had to have actually named these Save Points. But who...?

"...Flowey, maybe?"

It made sense; the floral hagspawn claimed that he once had the very same power she did, and only lost it when his own **DETERMINATION **was overridden by Ginger's when she first fell into the mountain. It got her thinking; how long did it take for Flowey to realize that she'd stolen his powers? When she first fell onto the bed of flowers, she'd been knocked out for a bit. But for how long? How many times had he **Reset **the timeline? And, come to think of it, did his power only apply to the people of the Underground, or the entire world? Or even the entire UNIVERSE? It was scary to think what he could have done in the erased timelines. Had he overridden everyone's memories on the surface world as well? The Pure Ones' memories? All of the humans? How many times? How long, from Flowey's perspective, had the entire plain of existence been stuck in a loop of **Resets**?

And how was it that until her fall, he was the ONLY one who could remember the timelines.

_...I guess it's a good thing nobody else remembers any of it,_ Ginger decided. _Knowing him, Glaux knows what he's done._

Where did he even COME FROM? He was a sentient flower, and she was fairly sure he didn't qualify as a MONSTER. How did a flower gain consciousness? And what made him so horrible? And what did Sans know about him? Maybe she would get more answers to this as she continued to unfurl the Underground's collection of mysteries.

She stood up and continued down the path; the arid heat was finally starting to dry off her damp outfit. The only sounds that could be heard were the ambiance of the steam rising out from the pipes lining the walkway and the rhythmic beat of her footsteps against the dusty ground.

It was funny...Her footsteps seemed as though to be echoing throughout the open space a bit. And they sounded...metallic?

_Something's not right..._

She slowed some, quieting her feet. The sound of metal boots came clear and loud.

_Undyne? No, that's impossible. But then..._

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

A somewhat familiar voice came from behind. She turned to face it...

And there stood the two Royal Guard members she'd seen outside Alphys' lab, the hare and the dragon.

"...Say, didn't we see you go into the lab, kid?" the dragon monster asked, knowing he saw that face earlier.

"U-uh...Maybe?" she affirmed, pretending to scratch her back as she reached in for her bow, knowing she could be in trouble. "...Why?"

"We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a human in the area," the hare answered. "Guy said it was wearing a striped shirt, and it's wandering around Hotland right now."

Her heartrate accelerated, and more sweat beaded on her forehead.

"...Yeah...I know...It does sound scary, doesn't it?" the dragon noticed.

"Just stay chill, lil' dudette," the rabbit reassured. "We're gonna bring you someplace safe until this blows over. Just follow us and you'll-"

"Wait, dude..."

The dragon held his arm out in front of his fellow soldier.

"What's up?"

He motioned for him to turn away from the human with him.

"Dude, what's goin' on?" the hare monster rasped.

"Ook-lay at the irt-shay..."

"What?"

"_Look at the shirt._"

"...What about it?"

He took a quick glance back at the monster in question. The shirt she was wearing...Striped. And now that he looked closer...

She didn't look much like a monster at ALL.

And that was a VERY SUSPICIOUS amount of sweat trailing down the side of her head; heat alone wasn't enough to do that.

"...Didn't he say specifically that the shirt was-"

"White and orange," the dragon confirmed.

"...Bro...Are you...thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

No more words had to be exchanged between the two guards. They stood there, motionless for a few moments, before turning back to face the person in the striped shirt. They looked at each other again, just to confirm one last time, and then looked back down at the person they'd nearly evacuated.

"...Bummer," the hare uttered. "This is, like...mega embarrassing."

"What's mega embarrassing?" Ginger asked curtly, knowing that they knew, and she held fast onto her bow, her fingers grasping a few arrows along with it.

"Well...that we didn't notice sooner," the dragon replied.

"Darn...We, like, actually totally have to kill you, and stuff."

And that was when both of them drew their silver cutlasses.

To counter them, the human fully extracted her bow and arrows, readying one for fire.

"I'm warning you guys," she said to them, backing away down the path as they approached. "I know the Captain of the Royal Guard herself, and if you don't back off, you'll have to answer to THAT ONE. She's the one who let me get this far, so take her orders."

"Like we're gonna believe that," the dragon retorted.

"Yeah. What do you think we are, dumb or somethin'? Like, team attack, dude!"

They fired up a dual magic attack; a bombard of bullets, shaped like stars and carrots respectively, and they waved their weapons in sync to guide the missiles.

"Hey...Not bad, fellas," the human told them as she slid around the attacks. "But how about THIS!?"

She fired one of her arrows, and it whizzed right past the dragon's head.

"YO, WHAT GIVES!?" the hare exclaimed. "You done coulda dusted my homie right there!"

"I INTENDED to miss! I just want you two to step off! So take a hint, huh!?"

"Look...Human..." the dragon said to her. "...We don't, like, WANT to chop your head off, but...like...it's our duty. Just...think of it this way. Your seventh SOUL...It's the last one we need to break the Barrier, so I guess...consider it, like, a heroic sacrifice...or something."

"It's not a heroic sacrifice if I don't warrant it. And I don't want to kill either of you, either. I get that you think you're doin' your job, but just trust me; if you kill me, it won't do anything good. Even Undyne of all people agrees with me on this. If I die, there are people will be devastated. You don't want that. In fact, I'm on my way to meet the king right now and see if we can find another way."

They sent another barrage of missiles her way; one of the carrots clipped her on the arm, and she held the spot after their attack.

"There IS no other way. Sorry, human, but there just isn't!"

"Then maybe we can kill the next human to come down here! Undyne said that, too!" she almost screamed, firing another arrow.

This time, it embedded itself into the hare's shoulder plate, and he staggered back with a loud exclamation.

"Nonlethal strike!" the human reassured them both.

"Dude...!"

The dragon monster tensed at the sight of his fellow guard being struck by the arrow, and came to his aid. The twin barrage ceased, and the two guards tore their attention away from their opponent. Ginger saw her opportunity to flee, and she didn't hesitate to take it.

"Bro...Oh, man, she gotcha good, huh?"

"H-heh...Good thing we got armor, eh?"

The rabbit reached up and pulled the arrow tip out of his armor. It was red with his own blood, and he hissed as it was extracted.

"Agh...Not exactly a magic bullet, eh, dude?" he remarked, thankful that it was only a flesh wound.

"Well, that was what the training was for, am I right?"

"Psh. Yeah...So...like...I wanted to ask you somethin'? Just a thought, is all..."

"'Sup?"

"Like..." the hare hesitated. "When this is over, do you wanna, like...I-I dunno, get ice cream, or somethin' like that? It's ah...*phew*..."

He tried to wipe the sweat from his brow, forgetting for a moment that his helmet blocked the attempt.

"It's hot out here, so I thought, like, why not?"

"Yeah, sure, dude," the dragon shrugged.

"Wait, really?"

"Totally. Like...what's the issue?"

"Oh, ah, nothing. Nothin', bro, just kinda shaken up by that, I guess, heh. Humans are, like...unpredictable. Speakin' of which, let's get back to-"

"HEY!"

The human was gone.

"Oh, man...Undyne is gonna kill us when she finds out about this..." the hare moped.

"You mean...IF she finds out about this...Eh? EH?"

"Heh...If. Yeah, that works."

"Whatever...I'm fried. Let's go do that ice cream thing."

"Ha...Sure, dude! Haha!"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Ha...Phew...Close one, there. Heh...I can't believe they didn't realize until now that I was a human. Like, WHAT? Aren't you supposed to KNOW what your target looks like?"

At least it'd turned out alright; nobody had died, and that was most important to her. Sure, the hare might have to get that flesh wound healed up, but if that was all she had to resort to, she was glad of it.

Monsters were so good to each other down here, it almost worried her. Was this what got them stuck down here in the first place? The fact that most of them were such pushovers? Being kindness and goodness, their greatest strength also appeared to be their own weakness.

It seemed to be the same case with humans and **DETERMINATION**, so she'd read before.

"It's crazy, she just disappeared like that...Knew I shoulda toughed it out."

"Ah, chill. You did good out there, bro."

_Uh-oh._

They were coming her way from around the corner. There was no place to hide on the open path; it was just flat dirt. If they ran into her again, she'd have to engage in battle AGAIN. What was she going to do?! There were no buildings, no stands, no rocks, no...

_Rocks._

She remembered something Papyrus had once said.

"_A FIRST, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A ROCK, YOU WERE SO STILL, BUT WHEN I DREW NEARER, IT DID INDEED TURN OUT TO BE A DOZING HUMAN HIDING BENEATH A CLOAK!_"

_That's it!_

She snapped her fingers at the idea, then swiftly dug her cloak out of her pack, flung it over herself, then huddled down on the side of the path in a ball, motionless.

"You don't think it had the same idea we did, do ya?"

"...What? The ice cream? I dunno...Guess we'll have to find out."

"Uh...Do you think we should ask Undyne if all that stuff she said was true? About her makin' a bunch o' friends down here?"

"Worth a shot...But...If the answer's no, isn't that gonna blow our cover...?"

"Good point. Maybe we could sorta dance around the question?"

"...That might work out...Uh...Do you...remember that rock being there before...?"

"Eh, no. Maybe it's supposed to be a decoration, or somethin'..."

The passing conversation faded into oblivion, as did the clanging metal footsteps of the guards. When she thought it was safe, she peeked out from under her hood to see if they were gone, and she just barely saw what looked like a grey and white cottontail disappearing around the next corner.

She was in the clear.

"Hah...That worked! I knew this thing would come in handy!"

And that was when her phone dinged with a status update.

-**NiceCreamOfficial updated status**

***Now in Hotland! Products on sale for just 12G! Get them while they're cold!**

* * *

**_COMMENTS_**

* * *

**DefinitelyNotAHuman: You're right on time. I think two hungry customers are coming your way right now.**

**-NiceCreamOfficial: Thanks for the heads up! Have a super-duper day! :D**

**\- -DefinitelyNotAHuman: That should totally be your slogan or something. ;)**

**\- - -NiceCreamOfficial: I'll consider it! Thanks for the suggestion!**

**StrongFish91: Ugh...Ice cream? I hate that stuff. It's so sweet, it makes me sick.**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: I swear, you wouldn't know good taste if it you punched you right where your nose should be.**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: Hm...Maybe I should change my username to "GoodTaste." XD**

**\- -StrongFish91: Oh, you just HAD to bring THAT up, did you? ):-[**

**\- -StrongFish91: Now, this chilly pink stuff Alphys makes me? That's good. It's like, I dunno, shaved ice or something. Less sweet and a lot more refreshing.**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: I thought you said you hated cold food...\:-|**

**\- - - -StrongFish91: I'm willing to make exceptions, you know!**

**\- - - - -NiceCreamOfficial: Do you think adding shaved ice to the list to the menu would increase revenue?**

**\- - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Hey, it's worth a shot! Who knows? You might even get a purchase from StupidFish91 if you do. :)**

**\- - - - - - -StrongFish91: I SAW THAT! D-:(**

**\- - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: You were supposed to. ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - - - - - - -StrongFish91: NOOOOOOOO NOT AGAIN**

**\- - - - - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Yep. ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

* * *

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***OMG? ppl think Mew Mew 2 is better than Mew Mew 1? LOLLLLL that's a joke, right...**

Well, Alphys was back in action, it seemed. Far sooner that the human had anticipated, too; hadn't it only been forty-five minutes? Maybe she was too anxious about leaving her unsupervised for too long, and was afraid something might happen while she was out...Admittedly an understandable concern, seeing what had almost happened with the two Royal Guardsmen.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***omg...DON'T THEY GET IT RUINS Mew Mew's ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC**

If only she knew exactly what the Royal Scientist was talking about...One of those cartoons that Papyrus claimed that she watched, maybe?

_Wouldn't susprise me,_ she surmised as she slid her cloak off and tucked it back into her pack.

-**ALPHYS updated status**

***My Mew Mew 2 Review: _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 _Is Neither Kissy Nor Cutie. It's Trash. 0/5 stars**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman updated status**

***Are we posting movie reviews? Here's mine: _Jurassic Park III _****is gory, action-packed and has amazing visual effects. It's High-Quality Trash. 5/5 stars.**

* * *

**_COMMENTS_**

* * *

**ALPHYS: eek sounds like a bloodbath o_O**

**-DefinitelyNotAHuman: That's what I love about it. Wanna watch it sometime?**

**\- -ALPHYS: idk sounds too grahpic 4 me**

**\- - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: What if I told you it had Velociraptors? ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - -ALPHYS: o gawd why the lenny face why X(**

**\- - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: That's what it's called, eh? Well, in that case, the Lenny Face is my favorite emoticon. ****( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - - - -ALPHYS: DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT MEANS**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: In my book, it means a lot of things. ( ****͡^**** ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**\- - - - - - -DefinitelyNotAHuman: Ha! I made it wink!**

**\- - - - - - - -ALPHYS: OH NO THAT MAKES IT WORSE**

**\- - - - - - - -ALPHYS: oopswait how's the humnan doing**

* * *

**_-_ALPHYS updated status**

***Top 10 Shows That Make You Forget To Do Your Frickin Job**

_She...doesn't know it's me?_

"...Guess I should've said something about that," Ginger muttered to herself, remembering that she'd changed the username Alphys had started her off with to something more vague. "...I'll have to sort that one out eventually."

The path up ahead lead into yet another dark room; black as pitch, just like the last time she faced the likes of...

The phone rang; Alphys, hopefully.

"Hello?"

"_Hey! I-I'm back!_"

"You weren't gone for very long...Sure you recharged enough?"

"_J-just took a bit of a catnap; couldn't fall sleep. But I-I'm fine, I promise; no worries!_"

"Well...You do sound better."

"_Heh...Uh...I-is it dark over there?_"

"How'd you guess? You got a couple cameras in here, too?"

"_Uh, n-no, actually. I just...I-I'm looking over the c-control panel for Hotland's power grid, and...A-according to the readings, th-there are no lights on where you're at._"

"Do you actually have all of the power information for Hotland right at your clawtips? I'm not cryin' fowl; just impressed by the thought."

"_Uh, w-well...Yeah!_"

"Dang...You keep surpassing my expectations with all this, Alphy. Keep it up."

"_M-me? Impress you? Ah, heh...I-I thought it was just vice-versa. Hee hee...Well, anyway, d-don't worry about the dark! My hacking skills have got this covered!_"

Just like last time, Alphys had the lights come on.

And just like last time, a certain someone had set up another stage beforehand.

"_...Are you serious?_"

"Not again..."

"**OHHHHH, YES INDEED!**"

* * *

**A.N: I didn't think it was possible to rickroll people on this site. It seems I've proven myself wrong. XD**

**Don't have much to say this time around. Sorry this one was a little on the short/filler/uneventful side, but if I tried to incorporate the news scene in this chapter, it would have gone way over the mark. ****Hey, at least we got the Royal Guards' battle! It doesn't exactly go the way it does in the games, because... Well, what on earth is gonna give Ginger the idea to clean off the guards' armor with her concern of getting sliced to bits? At least it still has the same sorta vibes, I guess. :)**

**And I wanted to include Ginger being enlightened through internet culture, because I liked the concept.**

**Also, more memes. XD**

**Hey, since we were on the topic of the internet, do me a favor, everyone, and follow these instructions when you next get the chance:**

**-Go to YouTube  
****-Search "Death by Lenny."  
-Thank me later.**

**That's all. See you guys next time. ****( ****͡^**** ͜ʖ ͡°)**


	24. Chapter 22: Doing it Live

"**GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! THIS IS METTATON, REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS!**" the robot buzzed. "**AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OUR CORRESPONDENT HERE ON LIVE REPORT! MISS GINGER WINGREN! PLEASE! FIND US SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!**"

The spotlight came onto the human, and she whispered to Alphys over the phone.

"Does he turn every little thing he does into a T.V. special of some sort?"

"_Heh...Th-that's Mettaton for ya._"

"Well...Guess I might as well play along."

Ginger scanned the outside of the newsroom booth he'd set up, her eyes falling upon several different things; a basketball, a booklet of some sort, an intricately-wrapped box...

A dog.

THAT dog, to be precise. That mischievous little mutt from Snowdin who'd sabotaged Papyrus multiple times.

The little white furball of an animal simply stood there, looking up at her as it wagged its little tail. It certainly was an interesting specimen; perfect for a news report.

Safely assuming that Mettaton had a camera of his own on her somewhere, she decided to wing it, approaching the dog and standing beside it.

"**WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY! WHY, I CAN JUST SEE THE HEADLINE NOW...'A DOG EXISTS SOMEWHERE.' QUITE FRANKLY, I'M BLOWN AWAY! WHY DON'T YOU GIVE US THE SCOOP, DARLING?**"

"Good morning, people of the Underground," Ginger announced. "As you can see here, I've stumbled across a dog. You may look down at it and say 'What's so exciting about a dog?', but this reporter says there's more to it than meets the eye. This little white...RUFF-ian has recently terrorized the skeleton residence in Snowdin, making off with what I estimate could be a good hundred bones, as well as Papyrus' renowned Special Attack. Dog, do you have anything to say to the viewers on the topic?"

"_Bark, bark!_" it yipped, seemingly oblivious to the criticism directed at it.

"**I'M ASTOUNDED!**" the news host gasped. "**I DOUBT ANYONE WOULD HAVE EVER EXPECTED WITH THE ADORABLE RUSE IT PUTS ON! I MEAN, JUST TAKE A GOOD GANDER AT IT AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN! IT'S AN ABSOLUTE DEAR! THOSE LITTLE POINTED EARS, TINY PAWS, FLUFFY TAIL...**"

His voice trailed off suspiciously.

"**...WAIT JUST A MOMENT, VIEWERS...THAT'S NOT A TAIL.**"

"I don't know, blockhead; looks like one to-"

She didn't know if her eyes were deceiving her, but it looked like the tip of the dog's tail spontaneously combusted.

"...Me?"

And then she heard a faint hissing sound coming from inside the animal.

"**WHY, IT'S...A FUSE! AND THE DOG! IT'S...A BOMB!**"

The walls of the newsroom fell away, and Ginger was frozen with shock.

"**OH, MY! IT SEEMS AS THOUGH _EVERYTHING_ IN THIS ROOM IS A BOMB! THAT PRESENT IS A BOMB! THE BASKETBALL IS A BOMB! EVERY BLESSED THING IS A BOMB!**"

"WHAT!?"

"**BRAVE CORRESPONDENT,**" Mettaton continued, paying the human's apparent terror no mind. "**UNLESS YOU CAN DEFUSE ALL OF THE BOMBS IN THE NEXT TWO MINUTES, THAN THE BIG BOMB UP NORTH WILL BLOW YOU TO SMITHEREENS! THEN INSTEAD OF REPORTING 'LIVE', YOU'LL BE REPORTING DEAD! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING! OH, OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE REALLY GOING TO ENJOY WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK, DARLING!**"

"Alphys, I think I'm going to faint..." the human exclaimed, her voice so weak it broke mid-sentence.

"_No no no no no no no! S-stay with me! You' got this! I-I know Mettaton better than anyone else, so I came prepared for this, too! I also installed a bomb defusing program on your phone! J-just press the button when the bomb is in the DEFUSE ZONE, and it'll take care of the rest for you! N-now, go get 'em!_"

"On it."

Since the dog was already right there, she went for it first...But it had decided to run around and play at the worst time; it looked like she would have to time the hit.

"Come on, stay still...Go riiiight there..."

The light on the phone turned green, indicating it was in the right spot, and she pressed the button as soon as she saw it. The dog's tail went out, and the hissing stopped.

"Okay! One down!"

"_That's how you do it! T-try getting the one down the walkway past the lasers to the south!_"

"Glaux, not the lasers..."

She followed the doctor's instructions, finding three lasers standing between her and the next bomb. two orange an stationary with a blue one moving between them.

It was a close shave, but she managed to pass them without getting clipped by the blue laser, and approached the next explosive, which was made to look like a video game.

This one was moving to, and every time she tried to aim the defuser at it, it moved off to the side.

"How'd he get these things to move?!"

"_I w-wouldn't put it past him to have put little rocket jets in them, or something! Uh...J-just a hunch, though._"

"Hold on. I think I know what I gotta do."

She held the defuser out in front of her and waited for just the right moment for the bomb to pass into its range. It slid to the right and tried to go past her.

But the second the green light flashed, she zapped it with the defuser before it could get back out of range. She passed through the lasers again-difficult to work around quickly, with such little space and such little time, but it was possible.

"_Great! Now head to the row of conveyer belts! W-work counterclockwise!_"

"You don't have to tell me twice."

The movie script was moving swiftly across the belts from side to side; she took the middle path, and waited for it to cross her again before pointing at it and defusing it as the device came at her head on.

She didn't need Alphys' instructions for the next one; it was the gift box, just beyond the belts, and she got to the island via the steam vents provided.

The box was orbiting the island like a speedy satellite; at least this gave it a predictable path, which was good for her case. Ginger just barely managed to hit it in the defuse zone before the light flashed red again.

"To the island with the big one?"

"_You've got the idea! Th-the basketball's next! Careful; looks bouncy!_"

"Okay..."

She was launched to the island with the large bomb; it had only forty-seven seconds remaining on it.

As for the explosive basketball, it bounced her way, and the human pointed the defuser at it, following the bomb's pattern of movement until she was absolutely sure she would time the press and the aim correctly.

With the deactivation, the basketball fell to the ground limply, and without any more bounce.

"_Okay! Last one! Head back to the center! I'm using, uh...EM fields to trap the glass of water there!_"

"How did he fit a bomb in a glass of water!?" Ginger questioned as she headed back down the metal path of pipes towards it. "Unless it's not a real glass of water!"

"_Oh, i-it's real alright. E-explosives nowadays can be surprisingly small a-and hard-to-notice!_"

The water was floating in midair, in a tight circular pattern, and was the fastest one yet. But it was getting deactivated, speedy or not.

It was a good thing the circle was so tight, because it passed into the defuse range every few seconds, and on the third loop, the human pressed the switch...

And it came to a complete halt before sinking back down to the ground.

"...Was that all of them?"

"**WELL DONE, DARLING! YOU'VE DEACTIVATED ALL OF THE BOMBS!**" Mettaton buzzed, confirming her hopes. "**IF YOU DIDN'T DEACTIVATE ALL OF THEM, THE BIG BOMB WOULD HAVE EXPLODED IN TWO MINUTES...AND NOW IT WON'T EXPLODE IN TWO MINUTES.**"

"Oh, thank GLAUX..." Ginger huffed, letting herself fall onto her knees. "We did it..."

"**INSTEAD, IT'LL EXPLODE IN _TWO SECONDS!_**"

"What...!?"

"**GOODBYE, DARLING!**"

"Oh, no, no, NOOO!"

As an attempt to survive the oncoming explosion, she fully hunkered down and covered her entire head, waiting for the telltale "BOOM" that would happen...

_Right now...!_

_..._

_..._

_...Right...Now...?_

It felt like a lot longer than just two seconds had gone by. At this point, it seemed more like that'd added up to TEN. What happened?

"**AH...**"

The robotic news host sounded equally confused.

"**...IT APPEARS THE BOMB ISN'T GOING OFF.**"

The phone system inside him went off again.

"_That's b-because!_" Alphys exclaimed from the other end. "_While you were monologuing...I...! I f...fix...Um...I ch-changed-_"

"**OH, NO.**** YOU DEACTIVATED THE BOMB WITH YOUR HACKING SKILLS, DIDN'T YOU?**" Mettaton finished for her.

"_Yeah! That's! What I did!_"

"**CURSES! I'VE BEEN FOILED AGAIN! CURSE YOU, HUMAN! CURSE YOU, DR. ALPHYS, FOR HELPING HER SO MUCH!**"

"That's, ah, kinda strong language there, ain't it, Mettaton? What about the kids?"

"**OH, DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT THE KIDS! KNOWING HOW MUCH THEY ALL LOVE UNDYNE, THEY'VE CERTAINLY HEARD FAR WORSE! AND BESIDES, I DON'T CURSE MY EIGHT WONDERFUL VIEWERS FOR TUNING IN! WELL...UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!**"

He whizzed off in a rush.

"...I wonder if he's going to set up another dark room for me to stumble across farther down the line," Ginger remarked. "...Say, you said this glass of water here was real?"

"_Uh, yeah? Why?_"

To answer, the young human scooped up the glass of water and chugged it down in one gulp, then flung the empty glass into the sea of magma below to further trample Mettaton's precious television face.

"_...Oh._"

"Yeah. I needed that right about now," Ginger continued, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Hey...Thanks for disarming that big one back there. Don't know what would have happened if it went off.

"_A-and awesome job with the smaller ones. Heh...Wow...W-we really showed him, huh?_"

"I should think. By the time we're done with him, maybe the Underground will finally see just what a big fat jerk he is. I mean, you built the guy, and he's an entertainer, and that's great, but what does he do for you in return? Craps all over your dignity in front of the entire monster race? More than once? What do you call that?"

"_Ah, don't worry about my dignity,_" Alphys reassured. "_Heh, I-I never had much to begin with anyway, so..._"

"Come on, Alphys, don't keep putting yourself down like this. If it weren't for you, I'd have probably gotten my rear end demolished a long time ago! Give yourself a pat on the back once in a while; it'll do ya some good."

"_Heh...Uh, h-hey, about that. I...I know I came off as s-sorta weird at first, but..._"

"No, Alphys, you didn't come off as weird, I promise."

"_Ah...W-well, I, a-as I was saying, I think that I'm finally starting to feel...Uh, more...M-more confident about guiding you._"

"You are?"

"_Y-yeah! So...Don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot, a-and his little setups! I-I'm here for ya, and I...I'll protect you from him!_"

"Aww...Glad you're startin' to look up, pal."

"_Th-thanks._"

Ginger saw that the path continued further northeast past the column of row of conveyer belts, and she began to follow it.

"_Erm...I have sort of a w-weird question._" Alphys told her.

"What's that?"

"_Do you...Um...What do you think of...The Underground, a-as a whole?_"

"Well, I mean, I've got people on the surface wondering where I'm at, so I have to get back up there, but if I didn't have anything to return to up there, then...Heck, I might have decided to stick around. Sure, it's ah...kinda got that trapped feeling, but for a subterranean kingdom, it's...Really not bad. Not at all. It's spacey for the most part, it seems, it's got nice scenery, climate variations...Hey, it even has weather! Not something I expected possible underground. We've got wind, snow, rain...Is it magic-induced?"

"_O-oh. You mean Snowdin a-and Waterfall...Yeah, I think so._"

"Furthermore, most of the people down here are splendid. Hey, even if I'm technically supposed to be the enemy in this place, they still don't really want anything happening to me, it looks like, and I tip my imaginary hat to the folks down here for that. Especially Sans and Papyrus, Gerson, the Temmies, and...Well, you."

"_Oh, well, I...Erm...Uh...So, I-I'm just speaking hypothetically, but...If, for s-some reason, it c-came down to it, we...You know...You could always just t-turn...Uh..._"

"Alphys?"

"_...Yeah?_"

"I think I see where you're getting at. Just...Even after I'm gone, just keep your head held up high. For me, okay? I'll keep thinkin' of all you guys, no matter where I'm at. And...I might even try to find a way to get you all out of this place, once I'm up there. Might even tell my folks about it; they might be able to help. That way I can make sure I see all of you again someday!"

Ginger heard a sniffle from the other end.

"Alphy? You...You're not crying again, are you?"

"_I-I know I've said this all before, but...Thank you. Thank you for just...B-being my friend. Being a friend t-to all of us. I feel...hopeful. More so than I have i-in a long time._"

She was choking up again; the human found herself holding the phone just a bit tighter.

"Alphys, I know you said you couldn't let anyone know, but are you sure there's nothing extra I can do for...Whatever it is you've been going through?"

"_I...I-I'm sure,_" the raptor monster squeaked. "_But thanks f-for caring so much._"

"Oh...Wish I could hug ya through this phone."

"_Heh...Aw, ghee..._"

Ginger turned westward; the CORE in the distance came into view again, looking closer than before.

"...Hope everything goes over well with King Asgore," she said over the phone. "Isn't he the one who wanted to kill us humans in the first place?"

"_I...Yeah, but...H-he doesn't really want to, I don't think. I-in fact, he, uh...I know him. The k-king's actually a really nice guy. I-I'm sure he'll let you discuss things with him, and convince him to...uh...let you cross the Barrier with your...your human **SOUL** and...Go back home._"

"I've heard similar things about him. I ain't teasin', or anything, but I guess it's no wonder you've been eyeing him up!"

"_Oh, um...Yeah, about that, it's...Like, I think he's sweet, a-and kind and...well...k-kinda...uh..._"

"What? You tryin' to tell me he's hot?"

"_Ah, well! That! Would...S-sum it up pretty well, I think. But I-I don't really have much of a chance with him, you know. He...I mean, th-this is Asgore we're talking about. King of Monsters. He's way out of my league. B-besides, he...Has other people on his mind, I'm pretty sure._"

"Hey, well, even if you don't get him, there are still plenty of fish in the sea."

"_U-uh, heh heh...Fish...Yeah...P-plenty of those! Uh...A-anyway, d-don't worry about Asgore. Just f-forget about it and smile, alright?_"

"I'll do that," the human assured before letting a sigh slip. "...I'll miss you, buddy."

"_Erm...I...I had a thought._"

"What's on your mind?"

"_I d-don't know what made me think of it, but I...I, uh...Would it be a problem if I...like...F-followed you into Hotland, a-and if we met somewhere i-in the CORE? M-maybe if I'm there, too, then...Maybe the king will...Since he knows me, a-and all, I-I thought it might be-_"

"Not a bad idea! Makes doubly sure of things, you know? If you've got the time for it, at least."

"_Oh. Uh...O-okay, ah, y-yeah...Then, I guess I-I'll be heading your way here soon, then. Uh, b-but don't sit around and wait for me! That'd, uh...be a waste of time? Maybe? And, uh...J-just stick on the path to the CORE, and if you need help with anymore puzzles, j-just let me know, a-alright?_"

"Sounds like a plan. See you soon, then!"

"_Okay. Uh...Later!_"

The call ended, and the human kept heading down the west path until she came to yet another elevator, this one being labeled "**L2**". She entered it, and was met with another selection of options for her destination.

Left floor 3 sounded right; she'd already been to all of the other elevator locations given, so she went with that one. The elevator shifted a bit about halfway up the shaft, making an odd noise of some sort, but Ginger brushed it off as the inner mechanisms brushing against each other.

And the ride up was short, so what kind of time would there be for something to go awry?

The doors slid open, and the human stepped out again, back onto Hotland's hot, parched earth. The pat headed back east, and she followed it until she reached...

What looked like a parlor of some sort.

There was a long table situated along the path, covered in a pink and white checked cloth. The monster sitting there got her attention.

"Hello there, dearie!~" she chirped. "Would you be interested in some spider pastries? All proceeds go to real spiders!"

A shiver went down the human's spine. There was something about this monster that felt...off.

She had six thin, uncannily humanoid arms, a pair of sharp fangs sticking out of her small smile and...One, two, three...FIVE eerie-looking eyes that appeared to be staring right into the depths of her SOUL.

Some sort of spider monster, it seemed; judging by the number of limbs and arthropodan features, it looked to be the case.

That plus the fact that there appeared to be cobwebs hanging ALL OVER THE PLACE.

_Say, wait a minute,_ she realized. _Spider pastries...Is this the second Spider Bake Sale that the Riverperson told me about?_

They'd said it was in Hotland...And she was in Hotland, so what else was she supposed to assume?

_Well...Might as well put some more of this gold to good use._

She approached the two webs to the right of the table; another Spider Donut sounded pretty good. And it was only, what? 7G? She could afford...

'_Holy racdrops..._' she mouthed. The Spider Donuts, as well as the Spider Cider, were each a whopping 9,999G! What'd happened to 7!?

She breathed in deeply, and was about to _calmly and politely_ offer a bout of constructive sales criticism towards the spider monster's ridiculous pricing of this location, but when she turned to face her...

Something about her seemed even MORE unsettling.

All five of her eyes blinked one after the other in a line across her face, and she was running her pointed grey tongue across her lips in an almost...seductive manner.

Now it was just as disgusting as it was creepy.

Ginger found herself slowly backing away from the humanoid spider, moving through the next hall, and passed by someone standing there, nearly bumping into him.

"Ah, hah...Same woes, huh?" he mumbled, not wanting the saleslady to hear him.

Ginger got a better look at the monster; a lime-furred feline creature in a yellow shirt. He looked just as disturbed as the human, and was looking down at the Spider Donut he had in his hand regretfully.

"I bought this thing, e-even though I didn't want to," he explained to her as they both exited the parlor. "That girl, though...When I told her 'no', she just...kept staring at me the way she was to you, blinking her eyes in that freaky way and licking her lips...Long story short, I'm broke now."

Ginger sighed sympathetically.

"Well, at least you did something for the spiders, and you got a pretty good spider pastry to boot."

"Heh...Yeah. Are these things, uh...Any good?"

"I'd say. The little crunchy bits of the legs give it a nice savory touch."

"Legs? Uh...Wait. You mean to tell me these things are made of actual-"

"Before you go throwing that thing into the lava, rest assured that they're delicious. I should know."

"Ah, hah, hah..." the cat monster exclaimed softly, now looking at the Spider Donut he'd purchased in a much more literal sense. "Are you sure...You don't want it?"

"You're the one who bought it; I'm not gonna let your money go to waste. Trust me. They're delicious."

"I...I still don't know. I mean, snails is one thing, but...Spiders? Almost makes me queasy."

"Just try it, man, okay?"

"Well..."

The green felid took a cautious bite out of the pastry. Immediately, he could feel the telltale crunch of a spider's leg in his teeth. He swallowed it with a shudder.

"Oh, oh no...I almost couldn't get that down..." he lamented.

"Hmm..."

Ginger glanced behind her, making sure the spider monster wasn't paying them any mind anymore, then pulled him over to the next steam vent puzzle that was beyond the parlor. The noise of the whooshing steam drowned out their quiet conversation.

"How 'bout this? The one I paid for in the Ruins was 7G. If you really wanna give that to me, then...Well, I don't have any 9,999G, but I do have at least 20. I'll give you 20G for it. But you gotta accept it, ya hear?"

"Oh...Oh, you're a lifesaver. You've got yourself a deal!"

The exchange was made; a Spider Donut for 20G. Not as cheap as the first one, but it sure as hagsmire beat ten thousand.

"I...I gotta get home. Thank you, kind stranger."

He passed by the parlor again, making sure not to make ANY eye contact with the spider lady running the ridiculous joint, then disappeared into the elevator.

Ginger eyed the Spider Donut eagerly and began working at it; even if it did have a bite out of it, it mattered little compared to the taste of the delicacy. And the little crunchy savory spider bits? Really, she had no idea why people didn't like the stuff.

_Each to their own, I guess..._

It wasn't long before the Spider Donut was completely gone. When it was, Ginger sighed contently, then diverted her attention towards the steam vent puzzle before her.

There were no pressure plates involved this time, so despite the sheer number of plates, it looked easier to figure out.

That was when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"_Hey! Alphys here! Uh...Th-this room is kinda like the one we saw before; we need to complete the puzzles on each side of the room in order to proceed!_"

"Got it; let me get past these steam vents and then we'll go ahead and tackle those."

"_J-just remember, if you need help, just call! Uh...Hm...W-wait! I have an idea!_"

"What's that?"

"_L-let's be friends on UnderNet! Then you can just ping me whenever you need help!_"

"Um...You already signed me up for Undernet, remember?"

"_I did? I...Oh. I did. I DID sign you up, didn't I? We're already friends on there, aren't we? Uh...I-I'm checking my friend list...Uh...'DefinitelyNotAHuman?' Was that YOU talking about that Jur-something park movie, or whatever it was called?_"

"'_Jurassic Park III?_' That'd be me."

"_Ah, i-if we're friends, then that means...Y-you've been getting all of my posts, haven't you?_"

"Yyyyep."

"_Uh...th-then...Well! I hope! You agree with me! About Mew Mew 2!_"

"Don't really know anything about it," she admitted as she started trying to make her way to the southern pathway with the vents. "Care to explain?"

"_Uh...Well...'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie.' I'm talking about the, uh, the movie sequel. Which wasn't good at all._"

"I got that memo."

"_B-but the television series! That's...It's, uh...A human T.V. show, f-from the surface? I-it's pretty great; it's, uh, m-my favorite show. Have you, um...heard of it before?_"

"Can't say I have. I gotta admit, though, the stuff from the surface IS pretty intriguing; don't blame you for thinkin' the same. Heck, that's where I got '_Jurassic Park III_' from. As well as a few other pretty interesting things. It's crazy what some humans throw away..."

"_Really? Like...W-what else did you find?_"

"Well, there's this one thing I have packed away; it's a plush of some sort? I don't know if it's supposed to be a fox or a rabbit, but it's something like some sort of mammal."

"_...Huh...Sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't quite put my claw on it..._"

"And then I found all the stuff I needed to make my bow and arrows, so that was convenient. But anyway, you were saying about this other thing you watch?"

"_O-oh, yeah! Uh...Are you...like...Interested?_"

"Perhaps. Uh...Hold on."

The human had made it to the southern end of the steam vents, and the sets of moving conveyer belts had blue lasers moving across them.

The conveyer belts.

"Um...Alphys? How am I going to handle these blue lasers without getting fried?"

"_Oh...Um...H-how about you try moving against the direction of the conveyer belt, and then staying in that spot until the laser passes over you? It might work!_"

"And...if it doesn't?"

"_Uh...Well, if you're worried, I could just hack into the system again and turn the lasers off. I-I can access the database from my phone, so no need to go back to the lab!_"

"You already leave?"

"_Y-yeah! I haven't gone that far yet, though, heh...J-just hold on a second._"

Ginger watched the blue lasers moving across the belts for a minute before she saw them shut off, and she went ahead down the conveyer belts to the puzzle entrance.

"Nice going."

"_Heh...Thanks!_"

"So, about this 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie' thing you were talking about?"

"_Oh! Right, So, i-it's about this human girl named Mew Mew who has cat ears...which humans don't typically have, s-so she's all sensitive about them, but like eventually she realized that her ears don't matter and that her friends like her despite them and WHOOPS SPOILERS THIS MIGHT SOUND WEIRD BUT LIKE EVENTUALLYSHEFINDSOUTTHAT SHEHASTHISPOWERTOCONTROLANYONESHEKISSESNADSHEUSESITTOHAVEPEOPLE..."_

Ginger's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets upon hearing Alphys' unrelenting passionate gushing about her favorite show. She never would have thought the timid little Velociraptor was capable of such a feat. Hagsmire, she wasn't even stuttering!

...If only she could UNDERSTAND her; she was going so fast, most of what she said was completely incoherent.

_"SOLVEALLHERPROBLEMSANDTHEYDON'TREMEMBERANYTHINGAFTERWARDBUT IF SHE MISSES THE KISS! IF...If she...Uh...Well, uh...E-eventually, she realizes controlling people isn't really...Okay, well, I just spoiled the entire show, I think, I'm so sorry._"

"Ah...Don't be. I didn't understand three-quarters of that anyway, it went by so quickly."

"_Oh, uh...Well! You might like it! Maybe...! Uh...I-if I don't get the chance to show you before you leave here, then...Maybe you could watch it s-somewhere on the surface?_"

"I'll definitely consider it," she promised. "Here, I gotta see about this puzzle here."

"_Oh, o-okay, uh...Hey. Listen._"

"Yeah?"

"_Uh...N-normally, I, uh, don't like giving away puzzle solutions, but, I'm willing to make an exception i-in your case. Uh...Consider it me paying you back for, uh...You know, everything you've done for us so far. S-so, keep me on. These are, uh...A bit harder...th-than the last ones._"

"I'm goin' in now...Hmm...I only have one shot, it looks like."

"_Oh. Yeah. Uh, I'm pulling up the layout sheets from the archives right now. Let's see, directions...Uh, you gotta get two over to the right, in that row of space, a-and then make the other two go off to the left; i-in order for it to work, you gotta get the first two all the way to the right, or else y-your shot will still be blocked!_"

"First two go all the way to the right. Got it. Lemme give it a go...Uh, if for some reason I screw up, am I able to reset the puzzle?"

"_All you have to do i-is leave the room, and it'll start from the beginning layout! B-but if you need more help then, uh, j-just ask!_"

"Noted. Alright..."

Just knowing which blocks went in which direction(paired with a bit of patience and movement prediction)made it a lot easier than it would have been, and she'd cleared her path and destroyed the enemy ship within a minute.

"Got it!"

"_H-hey, that was pretty good! Uh...The one to the north's gonna be harder still, though. Like last time, I-I wanted to start off with the easy ones first. You know, sort of like, uh...I don't know, a-a warmup-type thing, I guess? Uh, d-does that method of doing it, uh...Work? O-or should we have done the harder ones-_"

"No, I think it's working pretty well so far," she agreed. "You know, you and I make a pretty good team, eh?"

"_Y-you think so...?_"

"Heck, yeah! You bring the wit, I bring the grit; we'll be indomitable! ESPECIALLY once I introduce you to my piers! They'll love ya! In fact, I think they'd like all you guys!"

"_Uh, well, I, heh..._" she stammered. "_S-sounds cool!_"

"Ha...Heh...Yeah. My...piers." Ginger said as she exited the puzzle and started working her way north again. Alphys noticed her sudden shift of mood.

"_S-something wrong?_"

"Oh, uh, no. Nothing's wrong," she fibbed sharply. "Let's just keep heading north. I've got some more high-flying to do here."

"What did you say!?"

The phantom voice came from off to her side, hovering over the sea of magma below.

"Um...Let me call you back, Alphys."

"_Oh, um, o-okay. Uh...Bye._"

She hung up, and Ginger turned to face that same airplane with the pink hat again.

"You again, eh?" she remarked. "Do you, like, want something from me?"

"What!? No! I don't want ANYTHING! Not from YOU!"

She tilted her port wing and came barreling at the human again, to which she ducked, clipping the green zone of her attack.

"Then why are you back? Come to think of it, how did you even know I was here?"

"I...I didn't know you were here! Why is it your issue!? Are you FOLLOWING me...!?"

"What? No; I'm just minding my own business. We've already spoken before, now would you mind letting me get back to these puzzles?"

"Hmph!" the airbus huffed. "You've got some nerve...!"

"I'M the one with nerve here? You're the one bein' feisty; I'm just passing by."

"Wh-FEISTY! So, THAT'S what you think of me as!? Well, good day to you! Don't come back!"

She turned tail and zoomed off.

Ginger thought the plane was an oddball at first, but this time around, there was no doubting it. The only question she had now was what she was even trying to accomplish with her; did she want a rematch? A conversation? A friendship? Was she jealous of some of the other monsters being chummy with her? She might never know.

The human crossed the steam vents and made it to the north puzzle. She gave the Royal Scientist a ring once she entered.

"How about this one?"

"_U-uh, this one...This one's kinda tricky; once you make one mistake, i-it's kinda hard to fix it from there. But...See if you can solve it first, anyway! If you want! Maybe..._"

"I'll see what I can do."

The young human tried her hand at it, but it turned out Dr. Alphys had a point; she was only five moves in when she realized she'd messed up, and trying to fix it from there just resulted in more confusion and building frustration.

"Alright, I see where you're coming from with that, Al'. I'm stuck."

"_Oh, okay. I-I'm looking over the solution right now, and...Oh. Wow._"

"What?"

"_Th-this is gonna sound crazy, but it, uh...The solution's actually a-a lot easier than you might think. Here, s-start the puzzle over, and I'll tell you what to do from there._"

She complied, stepping outside of the room for a few moments before going back in to meet the reset layout.

"Okay."

"_Right. N-now, just go up, left, down then left again and that oughta do it._"

Ginger gave it a try, not fully convinced that it could possibly be that simple.

But it was. Her path was cleared and the shot was fired.

"_Uh...Did it work?_"

"Heh...Yeah. Look, I get you're a scientist, so you're super smart about this stuff compared to me, but it being THAT simple and I didn't see it? Well, now I feel stupid..."

"Hey, d-don't beat yourself up about it. We don't always know the answer to everything, you know? We all goof up here and there...heh...a-and some people screw up m-more than others, so it's...It's not a big deal. Promise.""

"If you say so...Where's the door at? Off to the east?"

"_Ah, yep! Off to the east! That's right!_"

"Heading that way now."

They continued their conversation as Ginger rode the steam vents.

"Sooo, this, uh...I guess she's a monster? She's run into me, like, twice now, and she's givin' me weird vibes."

"_Oh, uh, r-really? What's she look like?_"

"Get this; she's a plane wearing a hat. Not something you see everyday up on the surface."

"_Oh, I think I know who you're talking about! Uh...Tsunderplane, I think it was? Yeah, Tsunderplane! That's her name._"

"Sorry, what? 'Thunderplane'?"

"_N-no, no, 'Tsunderplane. As in, a tsundere that just so happens to be an airplane._"

"What the actual heck is a 'tsundere'?"

"_It's, uh...It's a term for, like, a-a person who starts off being cold, and m-maybe kind of, uh...mean, but then b-becomes more warm and friendly over time, when they realize that some people, uh...t-treat them well, o-or, uh...Like them? That's the basic definition..._"

Ginger processed this for a moment; a person that started off as mean, but then progressively became more friendly. That sounded a lot like...

_Oh, Glaux..._

"...If that's the case, then I'm just as much a Tsundere as that plane."

"_Uh...Well, looking at the way you were on my camera feed, I guess you could say that?" Alphys agreed, though somewhat hesitantly. "B-but it's not like that's a bad thing, or anything! I-it's a good transition from, uh, what you were doing to Undyne! I-I finally found the time to watch the fight; it was...uh...pretty nerve-wracking, actually. I-if I hadn't known the outcome of the fight already, I-I might've passed out. Heh heh..._"

"Oh, trust me. No matter how friendly I get with all of the other monsters down here, I would ABSOLUTELY duke it out with that awful fishwife again should I be challenged."

"_U-uh...Really? Y-you'd fight Undyne again?_"

"Just to kick her butt in battle, like I did the last time. I tell you, most of the monsters down here are awesome at best and tolerable at worst, but Undyne? I think she's awful, especially in a comparative sense; loud, nasty, violent, foul-mouthed...The only reason I didn't tear her apart limb from limb is because I know how much everyone else looks up to her down here. I guess it's a Mettaton deal there, ain't it?"

"_Uh...Yeah..._"

"AND she's pretty darn ugly. Glaux, those teeth...Reflects her personality well, doesn't it?"

"_Uh-huh..._" she answered halfheartedly.

"...Something the matter?"

"_No, n-nothing, I'm just thinking about stuff, is all,_" she answered, almost curtly.

"Well...Okay. I'm at the door."

And surely enough, the giant metal door slid open, making a loud, metal rumble as it did so.

"_The, uh, s-service doesn't work that well down this way. M-maybe call me back once you're back out?_"

"Sure thing. See ya later, Al'."

She ended the call, and she passed through the doorway and into another corridor. There was a Save Point right ahead, which she brushed against, as usual.

***Hotland-Spider Entrance**

***File Saved**

"Uh...'Spider Entrance'?"

Maybe some more spider monsters lived up in the next room she was approaching; it certainly looked like it, seeing how many cobwebs were hanging around outside of the doorway; in fact, there were so many of them, she could practically smell them. They had a flat, dusty, almost musty sort of scent. Interestingly, this was exactly what she'd expected spider webs to smell like.

She entered into the next corridor; the light was dim, and the walls were almost white with webbing spun around them. In fact, there was sticky-looking webbing almost everywhere in the room, from the ceiling to the floors...ESPECIALLY the floors, really. There were so many webs scattered across the ground that Ginger found her feet sticking to them as she continued through. And with each step she took, it appeared as though they were getting thicker, and even stickier. Her legs felt like they were about to be stuck; sure she could always use an arrowtip to cut through the webs, but this was pretty ridiculous.

"Ugh...Someone needs to call an exterminator," she joked to herself.

"Did you hear that, my pet? She says 'someone should call an exterminator'...Didn't I tell you I was right about humans?"

The phantom voice came from somewhere above, and the sound of it made the human swiftly draw her weapon and ready an arrow in it.

"Who's there!?" she called out, thoroughly spooked, and her darting eyes searching for anything suspicious.

"Oh, my...Humans must have terrible memory, too, don't they...?" the voice remarked. A female voice, Ginger noted; it was high pitched, like Alphys', but quite a bit more... sinister. And oozy. She didn't like it.

"I hear they hate spiders," the hidden figure continued. "...I hear they like to step on them. I hear they like to rip their legs off, one by one, slowly and painfully."

It was then that the human realized she DID recognize that voice. From not so long ago, actually. Wasn't that the voice of...

That spider monster running the bake sales?

Finally, the monster showed herself; the lights brightened some to the side of the hallway on her left, and there she stood.

"And I also hear they're awfully stingy with their money," she finished.

"9,999G for a sprinking donut," the human retorted. "And WE'RE the stingy ones? You best be glad your products are at least good, or nobody would be buyin'."

"So...you're not a stranger to spider pastries?"

"Hmph...You could say that. Your Hotland prices might be ridiculous, but at least you know how to make a good donut."

"Oh, so you have good taste, do you? How wonderful!"

"Well, I suppose it's acquired, but it's certainly refined."

"What a treat! In fact...It sounds like your taste is exactly what this next batch needs!"

"Wait, wh-"

That was when she felt her legs become ensnared in a tangle of webs summoned by the spider monster, who now had an uncannily hungry spark in each of her eyes.

"Oh, no..."

* * *

**A.N.: Oh, boy. You all probably know where this is going. Sorry if I ended this on sort of an odd note, but as usual, I didn't want to go too overboard with the length. If I included this whole battle, it would have DEFINITELY exceeded the given maximum. This chapter seemed a bit on the filler side again, but the story's gotta go on somehow, and I want it to be as accurate as I can to the actual gameplay(albeit with a few twists here and there, considering that this isn't exactly Frisk we're following here)I'm honestly really looking forward to writing out some more battles coming in future chapters, so I'll keep it up until then! Also, sorry if it's been a while since I updated and you're greeted with...not much in the way of interesting plot stuff, but I've been sorta busy over the past few days and haven't had as much time to write. Hey, at least I got this chapter out, eh?**

**Okay, well, in case I don't update until next decade, Merry Christmas! :D**


	25. Chapter 23: Arachnophobia

It was a good thing her arms weren't stuck; if they were, Ginger's bow would have been rendered useless, and she wouldn't have been pointing her trusty bow right at the disturbing spider monster that'd ensnared her in her lair.

"We received an anonymous tip about a human passing by," she explained, summoning the webbing to rise higher over the human as she stifled an eerily calm giggle. "And the dear caller offered up a generous pay for your **SOUL**. Not only will that little donation help the spiders trapped in the Ruins, but there's no doubt your empty body will serve as a wonderful addition to my recipe."

"I recommend you find another secret ingredient."

She fired one of her arrows at the spider, aimed right for her shoulder. But she was swift enough to dodge it, and in turn rose the webs even higher.

"You don't even go for the vitals..." she sighed, in an almost disappointed manner. "It seems humans are just as much cowards as they are cruel."

"It's a warning fire," Ginger corrected. "Keep toying with me, and I might just change my mind."

"Toy with you? Why, that's a wonderful idea, dearie~! My pet will most certainly find you entertaining."

"What?"

The spider whistled, and out from the dense cobwebs came a creature spawned from the depths of the human's most horrible nightmares! A sickly purple creature with large, emotionless voids for eyes and four skinny, pointed legs. It bore it's sharp fangs, which were even sharper and more disfigured than those of Undyne, and let out a deep, hellish noise.

And then it proceeded to come right at Ginger, full speed ahead! She was certain it would've disfigured her at the least if its owner hadn't called it off.

"Now, now, my darling; not yet," she tutted to it as the creature skidded to a halt. "For the time being, we're going to play nice. You wouldn't want to ruin your new plaything right away, now would you? Ahuhuhuhu~!"

The horrible beast inched towards her more slowly, and she struggled to break free of the web. The bottom strands came loose, and she managed to hop away from it before it could come too near; a difficult task, seeing that her legs were bound to each other, and she ended up falling to the floor. Again, she was thankful that her arms were still free, or the only thing breaking her fall would've been her face.

"I'm warning you, spider," Ginger threatened again as she aimed another arrow at her opponent. "I don't wanna have to use this, so I'll give you one more warning!"

"Oh, don't be so blue, dearie. In my opinion, purple would suit you much better!"

Another wave of magic energy washed over her; similar to Undyne's green magic attack, but it felt less...restricting. The webs encasing her dissipated, replaced in an instant by three sturdy, purple strands of it stretching all the way across the lair in a column, looking almost like an odd web ladder of some sort.

Ginger's SOUL made itself visible again; it had now turned from scarlet to violet, matching the shade of the webs she clung to.

"What's that supposed to do?" she inquired curtly, wondering what the spider monster would try on her next.

"Well you see, dearie, when you're purple, you can only move up and down along the webs; there is no in between. However, you are free to go from side-to-side. Let's see just how well you fare this way. I will be impressed if you come out of this in one piece. Uwh hee hee hee hee~!"

The hideous creature let out a bellow of a roar, then opened its gaping maw at her. Spider-shaped bullets began approaching along the webs, a few spaces in between them. The human held onto the webbing firmly; she was going to have to use the webs themselves to dodge the bullets.

She went up to avoid the row of spiders along the bottom, then down to the middle to get by the ones coming across on the top. They came fast. Too fast, really, and the last bullet coming along the top row brushed against her, disappearing in place of the telltale shoot of pain that coursed through the impact spot. Ginger winced, then threatened to draw her weapon again once the bullets ceased, giving her adversary a sharp glare.

"I've seen a lot of ridiculous things down here, but this is the screwiest by far!" she snapped. "Sorry about the wolf spiders in the Ruins, but there's probably a better way to get them out than killing me!"

"Wolf spiders...So, you know more about us than I thought you did, it seems," the spider girl acknowledged, her eyes widening just a tad.

"Yeah...So you mind letting me go so we can do this some other way?"

"Let you go? Don't be silly! With the generous pay that lovely fellow offered us for your SOUL, skipping out on this opportunity would be such a fool thing to do! So why don't you be a dear and stay still so I can wrap you up to add into the batter, hm?"

"You wish."

Another series of spider bullets came at her along the strands of web, and the human climbed along them like a ladder to dodge them. It was odd; it seemed like whenever she jumped up or down to another strand of web, the one she was jumping to seemed to...pull her to it, like some sort of odd gravitational force, and she spent merely a second within the space between the lines. The spider monster was right in saying that there was no in between.

It was a good thing she'd trained so much to counter the speed of monsters' magic bullets in Snowdin, or she would have been getting hit a lot more than she was; this spider had a knack for speed, just as the human did, and it made for a good two-way challenge.

"Speed against speed...Interesting play," Ginger remarked.

"Oh, I've more than speed on my side. It's breakfast time, my pet! Have fun, you two~!"

The spider's 'pet' came back over and emitted a low gurgle, and its owner summoned up a few more rows of webs for her human victim to climb up above the first three. The disturbed victim felt the purple strands begin to give under her weight, and they started to lower.

Right towards the hungry open mouth of the menacing, muffin-shaped monstrosity.

Now she was not only climbing ever upwards to avoid being chewed to bits, but also having to avoid the rows of spider bullets coming after her along the strands of cobwebs. Everything came and went so quickly, she could barely think straight. Climbing, bullets, the voracious predatory creature beneath her; it was too much, and it was too fast. By the time the monster finally decided to cease the merciless barage, she was near battered to bits by all of the white bullets she'd collided with, and she could feel every bit of damage dealt.

"Hmm...Normally, I wouldn't use ingredients that've been bruised," the monster said to her. "But I am willing to make an exception. Besides, in the worst case, I can always just cut the bruised parts away and use the fresher bits! Ahuhuhuhu~!"

Ginger audibly gagged; she wasn't sure if it was the image of the monster preparing her dead body in such a way that made her Spider Donut almost come back up or if it was just the heavy, metallic taste of blood in her mouth beginning to pool...Or both. Regardless, the little bit of color left in her face drained.

"Why so pale? You should really be proud...Proud that you're going to make a delicious cake~! Hee hee hee hee hee!"

The human was barely able to muster a response, hanging onto the webs for dear life, as the spider pet was still beneath her, snapping its jaws open and shut.

"Come on..." she panted. "Can't we talk about this...? I mean...Most other people down here probably wouldn't...You know...Appreciate you killing me...Besides the spiders, I mean...Uh...Might I ask...I know it was anonymous, but...The guy that tipped you off...Did you see the person? I just wanted to know...What they might've looked like."

"Hm...Well, he certainly had the most _charming_ smile," the spider recalled, a magenta blush coming to her lavender face. "And quite a handsome face; very angular, none of those baby curves, and he was so GORGEOUSLY built..." She sighed. "He even winked at me before retreating to the shadows...But it was strange. When I saw him vanish among the darkness, it could have sworn I saw him...change shape...? How queer..."

"Huh...Sounds like you've got a bit of a thing for this guy..." Ginger noted, seeing her captor becoming lost in her thoughts just imagining him. "Uh...Say, I'll make a deal with you. You let me loose and continue your, eh...physical description, and I'll see if I can find him somewhere out there; if I can get you two in the same place with each other, we'll see if anything unfolds between you two, you know what I mean?"

A small smile formed on the spider's toothy face.

"Oh, my goodness. Well, that actually sounds like-"

But it was gone as soon as it appeared.

"...Wait a minute," she oozed. "I know what you're trying to do...!"

"Uh..."

"I should have suspected...You're trying to break free so you can escape. And you asked me about him so you could seek him out and wreak your vengeance on him!"

"Um...Not per se. When you-"

"Tut tut, I want to hear nothing more. I believe it's lunchtime, my pet~! This time, show our guest how we deal with scheming weasels like this poor, delicious sap."

The creature bellowed deeply again, and the web trap started back up, going even faster than before, and the spider bullets being even more plenteous. Ginger had no food on her except for the butterscotch pie, and he had no time to reach for it; the bullets came too quickly, and the monster below threatened to put her out of her misery.

Finally, her hand, slippery with her own blood, failed to grasp the web above her, and she fell to the ground with a loud 'thud'. The spider and her pet hovered over her, the former wearing as smug and as creepy a grin as ever as she ran her black tongue over her lips once more, and the latter baring its mouth full of fangs.

Ginger was badly beaten; one of the two dozen wounds she'd received was a deep gash in her side, bleeding profusely out onto the ground, her left eye was swollen shut, she could barely see out of the other one, and she was barely able to move her limbs.

The beast slunk out of view, and its owner watched as it clamped its deadly jaws down on the human's right leg. The now hapless victim winced, suppressing a pained scream, a single tear trailing down her bruised face, turning red as it picked up the smeared blood.

"Why, my pet! If you like it so much, then I'll be sure to give you plenty of the leftovers! Any, ah...Final words, human? Hee hee~..." the pastry chef giggled.

The human emitted her parting curse through clenched teeth, propped up on her shaky arms.

"...Suck...my...cloaca..."

The spider monster, for the first time since their meeting, was truly speechless, and stared down at the human with five wide eyes.

"...Well...It seems we will need to clean this one good before we use it in the batter, doesn't it, my pet? It's absolutely filthy..."

The creature pulled on her leg, and there was a sickening sound of tearing flesh and dislocating bone as the limb was painfully and violently torn clean off its owner's body. Ginger yelped, then collapsed...then cried.

"You brought this upon yourself," the young pastry chef tutted, treating the situation no differently from correcting a rebellious child. "Alright, my pet, we've done enough, I'd say...Let's not have it keep suffering."

The last thing Ginger saw was the horrible creature open its bloody mouth one more time and plunge her into the darkness of its jaws.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"...What happened...?"_

_A void...An endless expanse of darkness that extended to the farthest reaches of infinity. And there was nobody occupying it but herself._

_Why was she here? The last thing she remembered was the horrible abomination the spider monster called her 'pet' swallowing her up head first._

_...Was that why she was here?_

_Was she...was she..._

_"...dead...?"_

_If so, then what was this place? Was this some purgatory where she had to wait for something to come? Her own personal hagsmire, where she would never see anything or anyone she ever loved again? Or was she supposed to find something? A light, maybe...Anything besides darkness would suffice._

_She ran aimlessly, searching for...something. She didn't know what, but she knew she would know it when she saw it. If she kept going in one direction, maybe she would find what she was looking for._

_Finally, from somewhere within the vast expanse of nothingness...She could have sworn she heard something._

_It was very faint; so faint that her own heartbeat obstructed the noise...But how was her heart beating if she was no longer alive...?_

_She caught another bit of the soft noise. It almost sounded like...music? Where would there be music coming from? Had the white gadfeathers come to guide her to glamora, strumming their gold harps? Or was it a mob of hagsfiends bringing her their tune of woe...It certainly sounded woeful._

_But neither angel nor demon made itself present._

_Instead, there came a voice. One as deep as thunder, and it came from all around, echoing across the void._

_"**You cannot give up just yet...You are the future of humans and monsters!**"_

_Who was this? Where was he? Was it...Glaux speaking?_

_"**Chara!**" it boomed again. "**Stay determined!**"_

_It couldn't be...Was the voice even speaking to her?_

_Chara...She knew she heard that name once before...But where? And WHO was Chara, anyways?_

_The voice went silent._

_"Wait..." she called. "Wait...No! Come back!"_

_All of a sudden, something...No...TWO things appeared before her...Words._

_Options._

_...She had two options, staring her right in the eye._

**_-Continue  
-Do Not_**

_Continue...? She would rather continue to some place than stay here for eternity. She reached out towards it..._

_And it began to glow brighter._

_Was this the light that one was said to see?_

_"I can't give up...I WON'T give up...!"_

_She reached out even further..._

_"I have **DETERMINATION.**"_

_And continued._

* * *

_..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

Ginger awoke to the sensation of dirt pressed up against her face.

She opened her eyes; she was lying on the hot, dry ground just outside of the spiders' lair. Once she realized where she was again, she sprang up to her feet, shaken by what she'd just gone through with the spiders.

Wait...Her feet? Both of them? Hadn't that beast...

The human looked down at herself; she was as good as new. No gash in her side, both of her eyes worked fine...And her leg.

She felt up and down it, just to make doubly sure it was really there. She remembered it being ripped clean off, yet there it was, still attached and in fine shape. She kicked it out just to be sure, rapping her knuckles along the bony front of it. It was definitely real.

"Wait a moment..." she realized. "Did I just...**Load**?"

Flowey. He said that whenever she would die, she would always be given the opportunity to come back to her last Save Point.

A chill went up her spine, in spite of the muggy atmosphere of Hotland.

"...I _died?_"

So she died at the hands of the spider monster and her pet, but now she was back. She'd been afraid of finding out what a Load would be like, should she be torn from her mortal coil, but looking back on it, it hadn't really been all that bad...Save for the whole dying part, that is. First, she was in a void, then she heard the faint tune coming from somewhere in the darkness, and then came the voice. She was not Chara, but even still, it seemed to urge her on...And then she was given the option to return.

But she still had a few questions.

Who had called out to her in the void? And more importantly, who was Chara?

Ginger thought for a moment...And then remembered.

"The Trash Zone..."

Undyne had still been on her tail, and had just plunged her into the dump by breaking the bridge. Before she regained her senses, she'd been faced with some sort of...odd vision. She'd seen the world from the eyes of whoever this Chara person was, back in the Ruins. But she'd been greeted by someone unfamiliar, being neither Flowey or Toriel.

WHO had come to her in the vision was another mystery, and her memory was too hazy to even remember what he looked like.

...But right now, it didn't matter.

She looked down at the Save Point beside her. It was shining brighter than usual, a sign of her return to said point.

So then, just like when she willed herself back in time in the Ruins, virtually no time had passed since her last Save? And the spiders in the lair had no memory of killing her? Taking these things into account, Ginger decided that this was a good thing. They would do everything the same way as last time.

Which meant she could plan ahead, since she knew exactly what to expect.

"...Ha. Ha ha...Heh heh heh heh..."

Her relieved laugh curdled into a foxy snicker. Since she knew what to expect this time, SHE could be the one playing trick cards now.

"Let's see..." Ginger pondered. "She trapped me in the webs, then did the whole purple SOUL thing...Then those crazy attacks, and then...That was when her pet showed up, right? And what happened next was what lead to that happening...Her pet...I could handle the first attacks fairly well. It was her pet that threw me off. Not to mention it ate my leg..."

She looked down at her limb again. In this timeline, she'd never lost it to begin with, but in her mind, it felt like she'd just...gotten it back.

_Oh, well,_ she said to herself. _That never happened now. Just gotta make sure it doesn't happen again, is all..._

She looked above her leg, now, her eyes passing over the white stripes going across her orange shirt.

"...Hmm...Maybe I should change that."

It was hot, but if it mean risking life and limb, she would gladly trade comfort for the intimidation factor, so she slid her messenger bag off and extracted her signature cloak.

"I still gotta thank Snowdrake for this thing," she noted, hoping she'd get the chance someday, if not now.

For extra security measures, she drew her bow and arrows _before_ proceeding into the lair, making doubly sure that her hood was pulled over her head far enough to obscure her human face within the shadows it cast.

If she looked spooky enough, maybe the spider girl would have second thoughts about attacking, so she cautiously proceeded into the lair with quiet footsteps. The cobwebs laced about the room were the same as before, all over the place and in every nook and cranny.

And then came the voice.

"Ahuhuhuhu...Don't you remember what he said, my pet? He said that there was a human coming through..."

What he said...She was speaking of the anonymous entity that tipped her off, whom the spider monster seemed to be somewhat infatuated with.

That gave her another idea.

"Who?" Ginger called back. "The handsome fellow with the angular face and dapper smile?"

Everything suddenly went strangely silent, and before she knew it, Ginger found herself faced with the young baker; she'd emerged from hiding to block her path this time around instead of ambushing her from the north. She seemed a might...startled by what the human apparently knew, but still stood her ground.

"...So...You know how WE know, do you...?" she almost snarled.

"You don't get this far down here without half a brain. Now...About your plans for me. Shall we instead settle this like civilized folk?" the human responded, noting the small... teapots it looked like that the monster held in one of her three pairs of hands.

"...I don't trust you."

"Ditto. But can we both agree that this needn't end with someone getting killed?"

"Hmm..." the spider almost grumbled. "...How strange. The person told us just how much you hated spiders. And how you reveled in stomping on them with your huge feet and tearing off their legs one-by-one in the most painful ways imaginable."

Ginger visibly shuddered at the memory her vivid description brought back.

"Really?" she countered. "Might I ask how he knew these things?"

"...I cannot say. We didn't ask any questions once we got the offer for your SOUL...Probably because we didn't put any of it past you."

The sound of the spider's pet growling lowly in the shadows caught their attention. Its owner shushed it from where she stood.

"Not yet, dearie...Not yet."

"Pray tell, what lurks beyond my line of vision?"

The young baker didn't answer, but instead shot her hooded guest a suspicious look before scanning her over.

"...You are no doubt the human we were warned about," she acknowledged. "But what, may I ask, happened to the striped shirt he told us you were wearing?"

"This, you mean?"

With a flashy fling of her ominous cloak, she revealed the more vibrant shades of orange and white beneath it...As well as the bow and arrow she'd drawn.

"You came armed, did you?" the chef sneered, narrowing each of her five eyes at the sight of the weapon.

"Could you get one of your spider buddies to spin me a web? Orb, to be precise? Shall we say...Over there?"

She pointed out towards the far corner of the lair, just above the exit towards the left.

"Nonsense," the spider tutted. "I'll do it myself."

With a flick of her fingers and a flash of white, she summoned up an orb web of white magic right in the requested spot.

Right when it formed, Ginger squinted an eye and drew back one of her projectiles, aiming at the orb web, then let go. The arrow flew right into the center of the web, and the sticky target caught it by the tip. The spider monster stared on at Ginger's scarily excellent marksmanship.

"...Do you mean to frighten us?"

"Not per se," the human answered. "Just showing you what I can do. I trained a lot back in Snowdin in the case I should encounter any hostiles, so they come in handy. Now, where was I...? Oh, yes. About this, ah...Awkward situation I've walked into. Shall we discuss it?"

There was still a skeptical glimmer in the spider's eyes, but she let slip another one of her small, toothy smiles.

"...Why certainly. So, then...Would you like something to drink?" she offered with that oozy voice of hers. "We have water, milk, juice, spiders, hot chocolate-"

"Spiders?"

"Spiders it is, then."

"No, that wasn't-"

But she was already pouring her a brimming glass of spiders from one of the pots in her hand. They were all dead, fortunately, and they were stewed in a steaming, frothy liquid that released a tart odor into the air that overtook the dusty scent of the cobwebs.

She handed the human the cup, and the latter took a quizzical look, though she wasn't particularly disturbed. Ginger had just never tried spiders in this more...liquid form.

"What's the matter?" her host taunted. "Do you think your taste too..._refined_ for our confections?"

"O contraire," Ginger defended, casually taking a sip of the spider beverage. It was as tart as its scent, and was a might crisp, producing a warm sensation in the back of her throat even after the hot liquid passed through. And was that a...cephalothorax that she picked up in there? It was rounder than a leg, and had a different texture, with all of the organs still inside it.

"...What do you call this?"

"That would be Spider Cider, dearie. Made of whole spiders; not just the juice."

"I can tell," she nodded, taking another, more eager mouthful of the surprisingly appetizing refreshment. "Spider Cider...Don't you also sell this stuff in the Ruins?"

"The Ruins...Why yes, we do. Is that where you first came from?"

"That's how the story goes; I fell down a hole, traversed the Ruins and made my way all the way here. I happened to pass by your little setup in one of the smaller rooms as I was finding my way through the old catacombs, and since I was low on sustenance at the time, I used what little gold I had accumulated at the time and put it towards one of your Spider Donuts."

"You...donated to our cause?"

"You were unaware of that, it seems?"

"Well...Yes, I was. I do apologize; the technology outside of the Ruins isn't quite as...advanced as the open world...At least, what we consider open here underground. They communicate with us out here via telegram, so perhaps they sent to us concerning your generous donation already, and it simply hasn't arrived yet. I'll see about your purchase if and when we receive the message, how does that sound."

"Sounds fine with me. Pleasant little things over in there," she flattered. "Two quaint little Wolf Spiders crawled out from the hole to serve me. Nice fellows, they were."

"Wolf Spiders...So, you do know of the two spider clans?"

"Clans?"

She diverted her attention away from her Spider Cider and looked the young monster in the eye, now genuinely intrigued.

"Two clans of spiders inhabit the Underground; the Wolfhouse Clan trapped in the Ruins and the Gardenleap Clan roaming the rest of the Underground. Each clan consists of two spider species; Wolf and House Spiders and Garden and Jumping Spiders respectively. The Wolfhouse clan has been confined to the Ruins ever since we abandoned them to move the capital to New Home at the mouth of the cave. They originally wanted to stay there, but over the several generations of spiders that have passed since then, they now want to spread across the rest of the Underground like the rest of us did. Unfortunately, conditions under here have intensified since then; the tundra has grown so much colder with the magic blizzards being conjured so much more often, and the poor dears can't pass through to Waterfall without protection from it. Otherwise, they would all die out before they even reached the first town...That's why we're trying to raise enough funds with our bake sale to get them out."

"And how long have you been at it?"

"I first got the idea around, say...three years ago? I've always had a passion for the culinary arts, so I also thought this might be my chance to make something out of it. I'm sorry to say that I haven't had much in the way of success. And no matter how high the prices are, I don't seem to be getting any closer to my goal."

"Erm...Hear me out," Ginger suggested, finishing off her cider. "This might sound counterintuitive at first, but have you considered lowering your prices?"

"But what would that do?"

"Sure, you might have high prices, but that alone isn't going to get you to your goal. You've also gotta take the consumer into account; see the less something costs, the more likely someone's going to decide to put their hard-earned money into it, and therefore, the more you'll get in return. Plus, satisfied customers are likely to return, so they'll spend even more of their gold on future products, you see what I'm saying?"

"...Hm. Putting it that way, it makes sense. Perhaps I _should_ have taken that business course in ninth grade," the spider said to herself aloud.

"I say you make your prices here in Hotland double the amount of the Ruins location. People have more dough to go around out here, so they'll willing to spend the money. This one fellow I ran into said that he paid full price for one of your Spider Donuts; 9,999G, right? Sounds like quite the pile of coins."

"Oh, it is. He's our only full-paying customer here in Hotland so far...Oh, silly me. You're out of cider, aren't you?"

"Don't trouble yourself over it, I'm content. And these are made of real spiders, so I'm finding myself slightly more full over them than the usual monster dish. Satisfying, to say the least; I've no idea why your typical human finds the idea of such things appalling. I hear most don't even like snails."

"Oh, well...You seem to separate yourself from most humans in that regard, don't you?"

"I...Don't associate with other humans a lot," Ginger told her. "I prefer to go my own way. I'm a wanderer by nature. That's...Uh...That's actually what landed me down here in the first place; roaming around like the vagabond I am. In all honesty, I'd prefer the company of monsters over humans tenfold."

"Would you now?"

"Yes, yes, I would! I have been so far, let me tell you! Ha..."

Ginger smiled. Things were going so smoothly now that she'd nearly forgot that this was the same monster that had her brutally murdered in an erased timeline. And now they were discussing the spiders in the Ruins, and it was as though she'd completely forgotten about the offer given to her in exchange for the human's SOUL. Hagsmire; she had yet even to lay eyes upon that awful-

Another low growl interrupted her train of thought.

"No, no, my pet. You may not eat this one...I don't think. Now be a good girl and introduce yourself nicely."

The creature emerged from the shadows; it really did look something like a hideous cupcake with legs. A fitting choice of a pet, considering its owner's line of work.

Fortunately, it didn't seem as quick to attack this time around. Not with its mistress ordering it to do otherwise, and the creature approached the hooded human slowly, and without baring its teeth quite so much. Ginger had the urge to shrink back at the sight of it, trying to conceal her initial fear of the beast, as she knew just what it was capable of. But instead of mutilating her leg, the pet cautiously sniffed her hand, barely brushing its wide, blunt snouth up against it before backing up to sit beside its commander. It let out a higher-pitched noise at her.

"Now, now, my darling," the spider monster said to it. "I'll let you have a treat if you behave yourself."

"So, this one's yours, is she?" Ginger remarked. "Does she, ah...have a name?"

"Oh, yes; her name is Puffy. You should have seen her when she was just a little maggot; what a squeezable little dear she was. Like a little puff pastry...Hence the name."

"Ah, I see..."

The human was glad at how she'd handled the situation this time around...Perhaps she shouldn't have been so quick to use her arrows back then. She hadn't the patience for a battle, so she'd been quick to defend herself with the thought that she could get it over with quickly...That'd only ended in her demise. She almost felt foolish for firing her bow when she had, despite the situation being particularly dire. She'd dealt with more powerful forces before using cleverly executed communication; she was skilled on the battlefield, but her true strength was diplomacy, so that was what it appeared she had to be to win in this situation.

A diplomat; a smooth, courteous diplomat. That would take her where she had to go.

"So...What got us here in the first place?" she continued. "Ah, yes. The tipoff you got. Now, about this, ah...anonymous entity. I haven't seen him in person, but I've heard a few things about someone like him, so I assume there may be a connection. This fellow...Besides being utterly, breathtakingly handsome, what exactly did he look like?"

"Oh, yes. I...suppose, if I put your advice into play, it might make up for his little offer. Em...Well...He was very tall, I'll give you that."

"How so?"

"Six feet. Maybe a few inches over...I swear, he looked like a male model, he was so glamorous. And he was...very strangely humanoid. With his head of black hair, and his broad shoulders...Ah," she sighed. "...I didn't think it fitting on any man beforehand, but he looked surprisingly good in pink."

"Pink, you say? How curious..."

"I'd say so. And...It was very odd, but when he vanished back into the shadows after our little discussion, I could have sworn I saw him...morph, so to say, into something... shorter. And less refined. It was hard to tell; normally I can see just fine in the dark, but in this case, it was almost as though the lights were dimmed as he departed. So my eyes weren't quite prepared for the change of brightness...How inconvenient. But I swear, the lighting cast down on him made him look even MORE gorgeous. Ahuhuhuh~!"

"Sounds like quite a looker," the human acknowledged. "I'll likely know him when I see him. He never mentioned his name, did he?"

"No...He said that he didn't want anyone to see him the way he was. Something about a surprise, I think? Yes, that was what he said."

"Hm...Well, anyways, I should tell you that I'm off to meet the king; most everyone else knows who I am and where I'm going, so I might as well not keep secrets."

"King Asgore, you say? Well, that certainly gives me...conflicting thoughts. On one hand, although I believe your advice will make up for it at least some, the generous pay the handsome gentleman offered us will be gone...That and the fact that he may not let you leave without a fight."

"I hear he's a big, loveable oaf; I should be able to get somewhere with him."

"Yes, yes, that is true...However, out of the seven humans that died before you, he does have the blood of one of them on his own paws, I must say. It happened when I was just a spiderling, but it happened. The first human to fall after he enstated his new policy on them; the five others that came after were done either by the Royal Guard or... well, in a couple of cases, they did themselves in."

"Wait...Did you say _seven_ humans?" Ginger noticed. "If seven humans fell down and I am the eighth, how is he Barrier not broken yet?"

"The first human. The one that came before all of the others...It really is a tragic tale. Too tragic for this time and place. All I can say is that the ill human died peacefully, but the SOUL she gave up was lost."

"...How unfortunate."

"As for the last six, there is not much I know...Except that the king himself only has the blood of the one on his own hands. The Royal Guard disposed of all the others, after that happened. A shame, too...If they'd saved what was left, I might have been able to use some in my spider pastries to give them an extra kick! Ahuhuhu~...Hee hee...My apologies. Not to shun you for it, but I don't believe you humans to share the trait of consuming our own kind when they pass on, do they?"

"Uh...Not typically. Not to my knowledge, at least."

"You don't seem very bothered by the fact that King Asgore has killed a human before."

"It usually takes quite a bit to perturb me, but if it's something genuinely unexpected, then I might be thrown off guard. Take, ah...Puffy, for example. Right now I'd say she's a dear, but if she came after me in a dark alleyway, I probably wouldn't think the same way...I'd be too busy running."

"Oh, my, yes. Well, she can be a bit of a handful sometimes. But you've got nothing to worry about...Oh, dear, goodness me. I must be keeping you too long, aren't I? You best be on your way, dearie, or you won't get to New Home for another day, perhaps. You've the CORE to traverse before you even think about reaching the castle."

"Another word of advice; perhaps consider setting up another location in New Home? I hear it's getting overcrowded, there are so many monsters there, so I imagine at least someone there would be willing to buy."

"That's an excellent idea, dear human! And my most sincere thanks for-"

Both of them caught sight of what looked like a small black and white Jumping Spider skittering across the floor towards them from the entrance. Despite its small size, it was managing to carry a comparatively enormous piece of paper in one of its tiny legs as it came closer.

"Hm? What've you got there, little one?" the spider monster asked as she took it from the little creature.

"A telegram from the spiders in the Ruins! Yes, yes, this is exactly what I was awaiting! Let's see...It says here that not only did you not harm a single spider during your stay there, but also donated to the cause of getting them out of the Ruins with your purchase of a Spider Donut! Yes, yes, dear, thank you so much!"

She used all six of her hands to shake just one of the human's, she was so ecstatic. Ginger had expected them to be a might more...cold and clammy. But this had proven not to be the case.

"Well, ah...It's not a worry. I'll be heading out, then I suppose, but expect to see me again someday. And good talk, miss...um...Beg pardon, but I don't think I ever got your name, now, did I?"

"Muffet, dear. And you?"

"Ginger Wingren. Pleasure to be of your acquaintance."

"Pleasure's all mine, Ms. Wingren. Ah...That fine fellow who gave us the offer for your SOUL...He must have been talking about a different human in a striped shirt. But you? You'll always be welcome here! If you're in for some japes, however, I could always wrap you up and let you play with my pet! Ahuhuhuh~!"

To this response, Puffy let out a deep, excited-sounding gargle of a noise.

"Ah, uh...Yeah. That's...An idea. Well...gotta run!"

"Be seeing you, dearie! Ahuhuhuh~!"

Ginger hastened her gait as she passed over the webs along the floor. They seemed...less sticky than she remembered, making them far easier to walk over.

Finally she came to the exit. And right when she stepped foot out of the spiders' lair, she zipped to the side of the path into a corner, let her legs cave in underneath herself and heaved out an exhausted sigh of relief.

"Thank Glaux..." she spat out hoarsely. "It's over. It's all over. Agh...Not going in there again. Too many bad memories...At least she knows how to cook, I guess."

She stood to her feet again, and then looked down at her leg one more time. She would likely never forget the trauma of having it ripped clean off...despite having never really lost it to begin with. Everything down here was so strange, so foreign to what she thought she knew...

One thing was for sure, she would never look at spiders the same way again.

Ginger let out one more breath to slow her unsteady heartbeat, then brushed the dust she'd collected from the lair off of her cloak before stowing her bow and arrows back where they belonged. She rolled her eyes at herself; she hadn't used her weapons very wisely the first time around...

And she was _determined_ to change that.

The young human was just about to start on the road again when something on the wall caught her eye. A poster, it looked like; more specifically, an advertisement for...

"_**METTATON: THE MUSICAL**_

_**A tale of two star-crossed lovers,  
kept apart by the tides of fate.**_

_**LIVE PERFORMANCE:  
3:00 p.m., Oct. 25**_"

"Huh..."

Ginger pulled out her cellphone and checked the date and time; October 25th, 2:58 p.m. Mettaton was likely just about to go on stage...wherever that would be.

_Good,_ she thought. _That means he won't be around for a while._

She continued, and beyond the small room of purple bricks was what appeared to be a mural. The human passed by it; it was a painted mural of a village in the distance, sat underneath a glittering, starry night sky. And just in front of the mural, up ahead, was...

A castle tower? Despite it apparently being a stage prop, it was surprisingly elaborate, complete with windows and other openings, a staircase, and...

_Wait._

A stage setup. Didn't she just read something about-

"**OH...THE HUMAN****?**"

She'd hoped too soon.

* * *

**A.N: I'm gonna let slip a secret; I've...never actually played Undertale myself. I've just watched playthroughs.**

**I hear that the Muffet battle is particularly difficult, so I thought 'Hey! Why not make Ginger die the first round and we'll see how she reacts to that?' The game mechanics for Undertale are interesting things to interpret into written form, seeing as they're actual elements within the in-game universe, and I want to be as accurate with my writing as possible in writing things like that out. Do you think I make her undoable death too brutal? She got her entire leg bitten off before she died. That was pretty gory, eh? Eh...Whatever. Sometimes, you need to show/depict a little gore to tell a story.**

**But let's face it, this whole thing is just an opportunity to show off my status as a meme connoisseur. XD**

**Well, thanks for followin', peeps! Remember to R&R! :D**


	26. Chapter 24: Rise of The Huntress

Ginger looked up, expecting to see the robot atop the castle tower. And there he was.

"**COULD IT BE...?**"

But the sight of him was not something she'd been anticipating. She blinked, then blinked again, just to be sure her eyes weren't deceiving her, because it almost looked like Mettaton was wearing...

"**...MY ONE TRUE LOVE?**"

He fully revealed himself from behind the wall beside the head of the stairs.

Yep. She was seeing this right.

Mettaton was wearing a dress.

He descended the stairs with a surprising amount of grace, considering the single wheel that was keeping him up, and Ginger just watched, utterly, speechlessly dumbfounded by the scene she was beholding.

"**IS IT REALLY YOU? THE NOBLE HUNTRESS FROM ABOVE? THE ONE FOR WHOM THE OTHERS CROON? MY ONE AND TRUE, UNDYING LOVE?**"

'Noble huntress'? The human noted the dark cloak she wore, seeing that, perhaps, it did make her look a bit like a rogue forest dweller of sorts.

If not for the situation, she might have been flattered. Nonetheless, she wasn't about to let him step up to her level so easily.

"Me?" she retorted, turning away from him. "In your dreams."

"**THEN THIS IS A DREAM COME** **TRUE!**" he answered her, without skipping a beat. "**BUT ALAS...YOU AND ME...WE CANNOT BE.**"

"Not that I'm complaining, but why is that so?"

Just when she thought things couldn't possibly get any more strange...

Mettaton started singing.

And there was the accompaniment of music coming from somewhere offstage; a sure indicator that this, too, was all being filmed for the whole Underground to see.

_Dear. GLAUX._

"**_Oh, my love,  
Please run away;  
Monster King  
Forbids your stay.  
Humans must  
Live far apart,  
Even if  
It breaks my heart.  
They'll put you  
In the dungeon.  
It'll suck,  
And then you'll die a lot.  
Really sad,  
You're gonna die;  
Cry, cry, cry,  
So sad it's happening..._**"

He placed a gloved hand on her head, wiping an imaginary tear from his rectangular panel of a face.

"**SO SAD...SO SAD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE DUNGEON.**"

"Says who?" she inquired mockingly.

"**WHY, MY LOVE...SAYS ME, OF COURSE! TOODLES!**"

Before she had the chance to react, the robot whipped out a red button, and the floor beneath her opened to let her fall through in a split second!

"HEY!"

She barely had time to call out. The floor below was more than a good twenty feet down, but she braced for the impact, and received no more injury than a slightly skinned knee. Ginger stood up straight, brushing the dust that'd scattered from her landing off of her teal cape, then straightening it out. She wasn't sure what Mettaton's next trick would be, but with whatever time she had, she decided now was as good a time as ever to don her Temmie Armor. She slipped off her sneakers, stashed them away and pulled out her metal boots.

Just when she had them on her feet, Mettaton reappeared.

"**OH, NO!**" he exclaimed. "**WHATEVER SHALL I DO!? MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON! A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR WILL SURELY PERISH!**"

He motioned toward the path ahead, and the human beheld a sight she didn't think she'd ever see again.

"**O, HEAVENS HAVE MERCY! THE HORRIBLE COLORED TILE MAZE! OF WHICH EACH TILE HAS ITS OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION! FOR EXAMPLE, RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE, PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY AND LEMON-SCENTED, AND THE BLUE WATER TILES ARE ARMED WITH...HEY... WAIT JUST A MOMENT. DIDN'T YOU DO A SIMILARLY CONSTRUCTED PUZZLE ABOUT A HUNDRED ROOMS AGO?**"

"What?"

"**BACK IN SNOWDIN, LOVE! YOU WERE ON SURVEILLANCE, OF COURSE, SO I DECIDED TO TAKE A FEW PEEPS AT THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS' RECORDED FEED.**"

"You SPIED on her!?"

"**MMM, PERHAPS. BUT ANYWAYS, SINCE YOU'VE DONE ALL OF THIS BEFORE, I SUPPOSE I SHOULDN'T WASTE YOUR TIME REPEATING THEM. IF, FOR SOME REASON, YOUR BIG BRAIN CAN'T RECALL THE RULES, I'M CERTAIN THE DUMPY DR. DROMEOSAUR YOU'VE FOUND A FRIEND IN WOULD BE MORE THAN WILLING TO HELP...IF YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN, OF COURSE, HMM?**"

She felt her fists clench, then pointed an angry finger at him.

"...Do you have any idea how-"

"**_BUT!_**" Mettaton interrupted. "**I DON'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE TIME! IF YOU DON'T CLEAR THE PUZZLE IN 30 SECONDS...**"

Ginger heard the sound of a fire start, and she looked to the wall across from the puzzle.

There was a row of flames spewing out of it.

"**...YOU'LL BE INCINERATED BY THESE JETS OF FIRE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA...HA...HA...OH, MY POOR, SWEET LOVE! I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF, I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! HA...GOOD LUCK OUT THERE, DARLING!**"

The music fired up again, along with Mettaton's metallic, almost shrill singing voice, and Ginger muttered a string of curses to herself concerning him as she leapt across the backwards-moving conveyer belt that lead to the colored tiles.

"**_Oh, my_**_ **love...**_**"**

_What'd Papyrus say again?_ she tried to remember. _Pink ones don't do anything, right? And the blue ones are water, so...Piranhas, right? Do they like lemons or oranges? And which ones made you smell like which? Good Glaux, I don't remember!_

"**_Has fallen down..._**"

But she at least had to give it a shot. The human stepped onto the first tile; a pink one, so she could collect her thoughts a bit from there. There was an impassable red tile just ahead, and two green ones were on either side of her...What did those ones do again? She cautiously stepped on the one to her left; it didn't do anything but make a sharp dinging noise.

_I guess these ones are safe?_

"**_Now, in tears_****_..._**"

Then was the orange one; the sweet scent of citrus rose up from the tile and shrouded her.

_These are the orange ones...But which ones do the piranhas like? Lemons or oranges?_

"**_We all will drown..._**"

She stepped on another green one, and then was faced with a yellow tile. She'd completely forgotten what those did, so she slowly rose her boot over it...And immediately felt the few static sparks emanating from it, threatening to zap her should she make contact, so she turned back onto the orange tile to try the purple one, and the slippery, tarter-smelling substance coating it caused her to slide right into the water tile across from it.

She looked down into the water her feet were submerged in; the small piranhas were steering clear of them.

_So the purple tiles are the lemon ones? And I guess it's the lemon ones they don't like._

"_**Colored tiles...**_"

She stepped onto the pink one to her left, and then through the two other water tiles, seeing that she still smelled more sour than sweet, and back onto yet another pink tile. From there, she looked at what was laid out ahead, seeing that just beyond another green and another orange tile, there were two of the purple lemon tiles that would make her slip onto yet another orange one. At least they lead to another pink tile, so she decided to take her chances with the oranges and took that route.

"**_Make her a fool..._**"

Her risk paid off, it seemed; to the left of the pink tile, there was another lemon tile, which allowed Ginger to pass through the three water tiles lined up ahead safely. She proceeded to step out onto the pink tile to her right out of the water, then turned a corner to yet another pink tile across from an orange. She trusted those pink tiles; they let her collect her thoughts for a few moments.

"**_If only she..._**"

_If only your godawful singing wasn't such a distraction, _she just barely held back. _Okay, uh...Another orange one._

She distrusted the orange tiles as much as she did the opposite to the pink ones. She stepped out onto a green tile, then yet another orange one; those stupid orange squares were making her paranoid, so she stepped out onto another pink one.

"**_Still knew the_**_ **rules...**_"

Seeing as there were TWO pink tiles there for her to walk on, she moved to the one closer to the other end of the puzzle...And from there, she saw a way out of her squeeze.

"Ah-_HA_...!" the human exclaimed, taking the purple tile before her to another water tile, thankful that it'd been there to change her scent again. She trusted the purple tiles almost as much as she did the pink ones; perhaps she would have just as much, had they lacked the ability to make her slip forward on them. But they did keep the piranhas at bay, so that she was glad of.

"_**Well, that was...**_"

_Green, orange, pink...Yes, pink, thank you,_ she continued to herself as she continued to overlook the field before her.

"Uh..."

Ginger paused. She'd just stepped through an orange tile, and the only way to keep going east was through water. There WAS a purple tile up to the north, but just past it was a yellow tile, and she knew what those ones did...But if Papyrus could survive the jolt, then who was to say she couldn't? She'd been through worse, hadn't she!?

The human braced herself, then ran at the purple tile and collided with the shockwave rising up from the yellow square. A course of sharp, painful static went through her legs, but as soon as she was able to cross over the purple tile again, it dissipated. She'd...actually anticipated worse than what she got.

"_**A sorry try...**_"

Purple, orange, purple, orange... she mouthed as she went along. There are a lot of both of those, aren't there?

A row of two slippery purple tiles lead her to water again, and from there, she was met with a string of green tiles, zig-zagging all the way to...

The opposite side.

"**_Now let's watch..._**"

Ginger peeked up at the clock; five seconds left. The human didn't waste any time. She ran across the snake-like string of green tiles like a maniac, in such a dazed rush that she collided with one of the invisible walls the red tiles cast, then fell to the ground from the impact. She struggled to stand back up; her legs had so much catching up to do with her mind that they kept threatening to trip over one another.

"**_Her fry..._**"

"I don't think so!"

In the two seconds left on the timer, she finally managed to sprint to the corner and shove herself off of the final green tile, planting her feet back onto the dirt. A victorious fanfare sounded off from somewhere, and when Ginger turned around to face the puzzle again, she saw all of the brightly colored tiles fade to grey.

"**OH, WELL WELL** **WELL!**" Mettaton exclaimed. It was odd, but he ACTUALLY seemed genuinely impressed by Ginger's thoroughness. "**CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MADE IT PAST THE COLORED TILE PUZZLE! NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I WILL DEACTIVATE THE FLAMES!**"

And, with the press of a button, the fire jets ceased spewing out the orange flares.

"**DEAR VIEWERS, GIVE IT UP FOR THE AMAZING HUNTRESS AND ALL HER MAGNIFICENCE, FROM HER MYSTERIOUS HOOD TO HER STURDY METAL BOOTS! SHE'S JUST AS CLEVER AS SHE IS CHARMING, ISN'T SHE?**"

A recorded applause sounded off, and she turned her back to Mettaton and bowed with another flashy fling of her cloak, assuming there was a camera in that direction.

"**IF IT WEREN'T FOR THAT WIT OF HERS, SHE'D CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN TURNED INTO A HUMAN BARBECUE! BUT SHE DEFIED ALL THE ODDS, AND GOT THE FLAMES TO TURN OFF! NO! MORE! FIRE!**"

"_Huzzah!_" the human cheered. "The Huntress scores again!"

"**HOWEVER...IT'S AS THE PHRASE GOES; 'OUT OF THE FIRE, AND INTO THE FRYING PAN.'**"

"I've never heard that phrase in my life," Ginger teased. "Are you sure you're not just making things up?"

"**OH, NO, NO! THIS IS ALL TOO REAL! EVEN IF YOU DID MANAGE TO BEAT THE HEAT, THERE'S NO WAY YOU COULD WITHSTAND MY HOT METAL BODY!**"

A gasp from the recorded audience.

"Ex-CUSE me?" she drawled. "In case you hadn't noticed, I've been doing just that this whole time."

"**OH, DARLING, I DON'T THINK YOU QUITE UNDERSTAND..DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT STEPPING ON A GREEN TILE DOES?**"

She raised an eyebrow.

"...They didn't do anything when I stepped over them."

"**THEN I GUESS I SHOULD REMIND YOU. WHEN YOU STEP ON A GREEN TILE, IT MAKES A SOUND, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! DON'T YOU SEE? THE MONSTER YOU'LL BE FIGHTING...IS ME!**"

With one swift motion, he discarded the dress he was wearing, then landed before her.

"**THIS IS IT, DARLING!**" he announced, readying the laser on his head. "**SAY GOODBYE!**"

"It won't be so easy," his opponent sneered, drawing her bow and arrows once more.

It was then that she heard her phone ringing.

"**OOH, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S CALLING! BETTER ANSWER IT, DEAR!**"

The hooded figure pulled the device out and answered it.

"Hello!?" she nearly yelled.

"_H-hey, it's me!_" Alphys' voice sounded from the other end. "_Th-this seems bad, but don't panic! There's still one last thing I installed on your phone! You see that big yellow button flashing on the middle of the screen!? I-I just readied it for use! and sent the update to your phone!_"

She pulled the phone away and saw what she meant; the bright yellow button was flashing on and off just below the screen.

"Do I press it?"

"_Y-yeah! Just...Don't be alarmed by what happens! It's supposed to do what it does!_"

She activated the flashing button...

And almost immediately, she felt her SOUL shift again.

It revealed itself in all of its scarlet glory, and she watched as it turned upside-down like the SOUL of any monster, the tip pointing at the sadistic robot...And with one more bright flash, it turned from the standard flaming red-orange to a bright, obvious yellow, matching the color the phone button had flashed.

"Um...What's this supposed to do, Al'?"

"_It's a SOUL mode! P-press the button on the phone, and see what it does!_"

She nodded at her remark, then pressed the button. Something shot out of her SOUL and rammed right into Mettaton!

"**OHHH! OHHHHHHHH!**" he exclaimed halfheartedly. "**YOU'VE DEFEATED ME! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ETC, ETC.**"

"...Heh..."

It didn't seem to do much, so she tried again. Another bullet shot into him, but it dissipated on impact just like any monster bullet, and he just stood there and took it.

To Ginger, it was an amusing sight, to say the least.

"**WHATEVER,**" he finished. "**THIS IS GROWING BORING NOW. UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!**"

With one more wave, he retracted his arms, then shot up like a rocket into the air and ascended out of the dungeon through a prepared trapdoor. Before he disappeared, he lowered himself a bit in order to face the human.

"**OH, AND ONE MORE THING, HUMAN; YOU REMEMBER HOW I REFERRED THE ACCURSEDLY BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS BEFORE YOU BEGAN THE PUZZLE?**"

"Yeah...Yeah! What do you have!? A _death wish!?_"

"**I ONLY SAID IT...BECAUSE I KNEW IT WOULD MAKE YOU MAD! HAHA! YOU'VE BEEN DUPED AFTER ALL! WELL...TA-TA!**"

Finally, he jetted himself up and out, and was gone.

Right when her SOUL flashed back to scarlet and returned to her body, she heard Alphys speak again.

"_Wow. Uh, l-looks like you beat him, huh? I-it might not seem like much, but when he's bored...He, uh...doesn't last long before he gives up on things._"

"Did you happen to be watching that performance live?" she asked curtly.

"_W-well, yeah, I did! I've been watching from the very beginning to make sure I, uh...didn't butt in until I did, though, because I...well...I didn't want to be a-a distraction._"

"So then you heard what he-"

"_D-don't get too riled up over it. I-it's...um...a pet name. B-besides, he was just trying to mess with you, remember?_"

"'Dumpy Dr. Dromeosaur'? A pet name?" she inquired skeptically.

"_Like I said, don't get yourself worked up about it; no harm in poking a little fun, e-every now and then...Heh...Uh, so, I should probably also mention that we're not far from the CORE. I-it's just past MTT Resort...Uh...Yeah, M-mettaton has his own fancy hotel. It's actually just north of where you're at right now._"

"It pains me to think of such a place," Ginger commented.

_"It's actually pretty nice; lots of fancy rooms, two restaurants; it used to be a rundown apartment complex, but once Mettaton started reeling in the dough, he fixed it up a-all fancy, and stuff! And now people come from all over the Underground to stay there! E-even if it is extremely pricy...B-but, see? He's not so bad! Y-you two just d-don't get along the best, is all!"_

"Ugh...I guess so, but that doesn't change any of my thoughts about that rusty rectangle. You practically breathed the life into him, didn't you? And what does he do for you in return? The guy humiliates you on public television just because he can. TWICE. The only reason I don't go all out against him is because 1: I understand he means a lot to you, and 2: He means a lot to the rest of the Underground, too. It's like with Undyne. Do I hate the fishwife? Yes. Would I be all buddy-buddy with her all of a sudden if she decided to open up, like, I don't know, a fighter's academy? No. But am I gonna dash everyone's hearts to pieces by killing her in cold blood? Don't think so. The most I'll do is give her a few more solid punches in the face...An maybe shove a huge bowl of ice cream in her face, since she can't stand the stuff. Ha!"

"_Oh, boy...Y-you really don't like Undyne, do you?_"

"Never have, never will. I hear you two are friends, though."

"_Y-yeah...W-we are friends. G-good friends, actually. I-in fact, you know, y-you and her-_"

"Share a lot of common ground? Yeah, I've heard that a few times around here. But you know what they say: likes repel, opposites attract. That's probably why you get along so much better with us individually, eh? We're both brawny, battle-hardened, daring and determined, while you...Well, you're a short 'n' cuddly nerd with enough brains to go around, is how I'd put it. And that's likely got twentyfold on 'Dumpy Dr. Dromeosaur,' don't it?"

"_Sh-short and c-..._" Alphys stammered. "_C-come on, you're just flattering me at this point._"

"I don't think it's flattering if it's genuine."

"_W-well, then...um...Thank you. And, um...T-thanks again for letting me guide you. A-and one more for...e-everything else you did t-to help me. It's made me feel a lot better about myself, a-as a whole...I...I just f-feel so i-indebted to you. I-I don't deserve-_"

"Alph'."

"_...Yeah?_"

"You don't owe me anything. You're my friend."

"_A-are you sure? You're not just doing it out of...of p-pity?_"

Ginger sighed; what would it take to convince her of just how loved she was?

"Replace 'pity' with 'care,' Alphy. See there? We all care about you."

There was a moment of silence.

"_...Y-you guys..._"

A wet-sounding sniffle came from the other end.

"Al..."

"_They're happy tears this time,_" the raptor promised. "_I-I'm just...touched, is all._"

She sighed deeply before continuing.

"_So, um...Anyway, I'm on my way. Just passed where all that crazy bomb-defusing stuff t-took place. Just keep at it a-and I should be caught up once you reach the end of the CORE. Th-then we'll see what happens from there._"

"Man. You caught up quickly."

"_W-well, I'm fairly familiar with the puzzles. P-plus, Mettaton doesn't have any tricks set up for me, probably, so I'm just moseying along. Heh...J-just a suggestion, you might as well grab a bite to eat or something while you're at the hotel. One of the two restaurants is just fast-food, so it's...uh...a-affordable._"

"Sounds like a good idea. 'Kay, then. Talk later, Alphy."

"_O-okay. Bye!_"

With a click, she was gone. Ginger turned north out of the puzzle dungeon and scales a small flight of stairs.

And she was not prepared to see who was standing there at the top.

The two guards were standing there, right at the top of the stairs, waiting for her! The hare and the dragon!...And the Nice Cream guy, but he was of her least concern.

"Gotcha right where we want'cha," the dragon bellowed. His helmet had been removed, revealing a red-striped grey face as menacingly reptilian as any viper, except with more horns. "Ever since you nearly dusted my bro, we've been lookin' all over for you!"

"Um..." Ginger replied, noting the Nice Cream in his hand. "It looks more like you've been slacking off eating Nice Cream."

The hare gave his fellow guard a somewhat nervous glance. His helmet was gone, as well, and the long whiskers coming out of the grey-furred face were a might crinkled.

"Yo...Dude?" the rabbit said to his companion, seeming less eager to attack the human than him. "Thought you were gonna ask for her autograph."

"Autograph?" Ginger echoed.

"Uh, what? She almost literally killed you with those arrows!? Dude, it was a cover-up! I was just sayin' that so we could get her back for what she did to ya!"

"...Yeeeeaaahhh, BUT, why not, like, let bygones be bygones? Besides, what'd the rest of the Underground think?"

"...Pardon?"

"I've been thinkin', and, uh...Well, she's got a point. Dudette's known all over the place now, and, like, people think she's cool now. What'd happen if we just obliterated her like that? Yeah, sure, we'd get her SOUL, but, like...Can't we wait for someone other human?"

"Haha! Undyne's words, exactly!" the human announced, pointing at the hare's brilliance. "I mean...not a hundred percent exactly, but you get the point."

"UGH," the dragon groaned. "Fine. We'll let this one slide."

"Seriously, though. Like, d-dude. You'd kill for me?"

"Well, duh. Homies help homies. Otherwise, they ain't homies."

"...Wow...Uh...Yeah, y-you're right, uh..."

"What's up with you, man?" the dragon inquired, noticing his sudden state of unease. "You're all sweaty and stuff, all of a sudden."

"Nothin'! Nothin', nothin', nothin'. Uh...Well, Huntress, nice seein' ya," he bid her, walking the other direction with his dragon friend towards one of the elevators.

"Uh...What'd you call me?" she asked, a might confused.

"Ask him!"

He pointed at the Nice Cream guy before disappearing.

"...Well, that went better than I anticipated!" he remarked. "Hey, nice seeing you again, pal! I got great news! Business is great here! Everyone's eager to buy! And those two fellas just bought everything that was left! I'm completely sold out! Haha! Ha...Um, sorry to disappoint, if you came lookin' for service, buddy. In fact, now that I'm outta stock, I'm going to pack up for the day and head back to Snowdin to resupply. But you can bet your britches I'll be back here tomorrow! And I'll have an even greater supply then, now that I know how many people crave this stuff in these parts!"

"Tomorrow, eh? Sorry, fella, but...I don't think I'll be here tomorrow. I'm on my way back to the surface, and compared to everything else I've been through, I'm just a hop, skip and a flutter away from meeting the king himself."

He whistled at the thought.

"Big stuff comin' up, then, huh?"

"You could say that." she answered. "Um, I don't know if the guy was just trying to distract me, or whatnot, but do you know anything about...What'd he call me? 'Huntress?' I know Mettaton said something about that during the performance thing, so...I don't know, did he get it from the square?"

"Oh, boy...You have no idea! It's not just Mettaton; that's what everyone's been starting to call you!"

"Really?"

"Everyone's seen you on T.V. They're all talking about the mysterious archer in the dark teal cloak with the feather in her hood, who's sharp as a pencil and slick as a snake, who solves puzzles like they're nothin, who fought tooth and nail against Captain Undyne armed with the trusty bow she constructed from dump junk, and not only won, but had the MERCY to spare her. And not to mention all of the people she gave a hand to down here, from raising enough funds for a Temmie to go to college, to just being a generous paying customer for some guy selling Nice Cream in Waterfall. That Huntress...That's you, pal. Why, you've gotten so well-known so fast that some people are starting to see you as Mettaton's rising rival celebrity!"

"...Man." She almost breathed the word. "Never thought I'd see this happen."

"Believe it. Uh, since I can't offer you any Nice Cream, I'll recommend to you the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium; they might have somethin' cold, if that's what you're after!"

"I just had a friend of mine say something along those lines...Guess I better keep at it. Once I'm back with my folks on the surface, I'm gonna try to find a way to bust you guys out of this place...Granted I actually DO end up getting back with them...B-but even if I don't, I'll still do that second thing!"

"Well, we all look forward to that day. And it's closer than ever, now...Especially with that thought you have in mind."

"Keep hopin' and keep dreamin'. A thousand people wishing can't be wrong...Well, nice seeing you again. Happy trails."

"Good luck!"

She ascended the second flight of stairs, and there at the top stood the towering MTG Resort Hotel in all its glittery vlory. The violet walls rose at least ten stories high, and Mettaton's image was on either side of the golden login above the glass doorway. Ginger was a bit in awe at the sight of it, but what actually managed to capture her attention was the figure standing just to the left of the

There stood a familiar monster, wearing a blue hoodie and a toothy smile.

"Sans!" she recognized, approaching him with an extended arm.

"heya, kid," he greeted, meeting her halfway with his own bony hand. "you've been busy, huh?"

"You could say that. Good thing I'll be beyond Mettaton's reach in good time."

"yeah...so. heading off to the CORE here soon, eh? excited?"

"Honestly, I'm kinda tied up about it..."

"well, since you're almost there, why don't we catch up one more time? chitchat, chill out, you know calm your nerves some. there's a nice restaurant in this place we could do that; foods mega-expensive, though, so maybe we could get a table. thoughts?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"great. now, come over this way; i know a shortcut."

He lead her into the dark alleyway.

"'kay, go on 'n' close your eyes."

"Um..."

"just trust me on this."

"Alright..." she shrugged, complying to his direction as he lead her into the alley.

"eyes still shut?"

"Yeah, can I open them?"

"okay. go ahead."

The human opened her eyes...

And lo and behold, they were standing right before an empty table in one of the finest food joints either of them had ever seen.

"...How'd-"

"magic."

"...Well, in a place like this, I guess that makes sense."

Sans grinned as he pulled a chair out to plop himself into. Ginger sat across from him, sticking her cloak on the back of her seat.

"Oh, boy...This place has air conditioning. That's what I'm talkin' about."

"yeah...so. your journey's almost over, huh? must be pretty eager to get back home."

"More than anything. Uh, not that this place is any bad. I just...I just want to see everyone back on the surface again."

"hm...well, you know how i said i'd keep an eye out for you?"

"Yeah?"

"i've overheard a couple things. it could just be me, but i've been putting bits and snippets together, and it seems like you're not a hundred percent sure you'll actually be able to reunite with your folks up there."

"Well, you'd...You'd be right."

"what's the issue?"

"It's...My situation's kinda complicated," she explained. "I'll make one thing clear, though. My group doesn't live anywhere near this mountain; we're just here on business. And I've been gone for, like...How long's it been since I fell down here? Four days? Five? I've lost track."

"same."

"Well, that doesn't matter; we were supposed to leave to go back home the day after I fell. And it's been longer than that, I know at least. We've got a lot to do back where we live. They're not just gonna sit round and wait for one asset to come back...Heck, I doubt they think I'm even still alive at this point. And...yeah, they do care about my well-being, but...Our duties back home come first, not scouring the forest looking for one Tyt-...person. So they're probably gone already, let's face it."

"just say they haven't, for some reason. then would you be able to go back?"

"That...depends on what happens after I leave the mountain. Upon falling, I faced a few...unexpected circumstances. And even if the Pure Ones haven't left yet, I still might not be able to return to them."

"the pure ones...i remember that from the cooking show, you said something about that. what exactly do you guys do?"

She shook her head, leaning it against her hand as she looked down at the white tablecloth blankly.

"I can't fill you in," she answered him. "It's spronk. Classified."

"hmm...must be important, then."

"I'm still gonna try to make it out, though. Even if I have just the tiniest sliver of a chance to get back with them, then I'm not gonna stop now."

"i see where you're gettin' at...though, still. maybe sometimes, it's...just better to take what's given to you."

She looked up at him, more concentrated.

"i mean, down here, you've got food, friends, maybe even some fame on the rise, who knows? is what you have to do out there...you know...really worth it?"

"...Well...Yeah. I can't just abandon everyone on the surface. They need me up there."

"they ain't got nobody else for the job?"

"I doubt..."

She paused to reconsider what she was about to say, letting Sans' question run through her head a few times over.

"That's...Actually a good question."

He had a good point; she might've served the Pure Ones well, but she was still just one owl among over two thousand others. She wasn't the only peace-maker they could get their talons on. Not the only squadron leader, or the only slipgizzle. There were so many others that could fill her in. Maybe even ones she hadn't even met yet; ones that had yet to stumble across the palace in the Beaks.

But then there was the other side of the coin; she could still see what would happen if she at least TRIED to get back to them, right. Aborting her mission wouldn't only make everything she'd done so far a huge waste of her time, but it was also stingingly disloyal to the cause she strived to serve. Deserting the Pure Ones to live among monsters...It'd never been her desire, but doing it even out of sheer lack of options still made her fell like some filthy turnfeather.

"i know that look."

"Huh?" She snapped out of her thoughtful daze. "What look?"

"that's the look of someone who's thinkin' too hard. forget about what i said, kid. i'm still rootin' for ya."

"Well...Alright. I'll save it for later."

"cool beans."

Everything was silent for a minute between them. Ginger refrained from making eye contact with the skeleton, instead finding the tablecloth more interesting. It was better than making the situation any more awkward than it already was.

Sans, however, read her like a book, and she was a lively adventure novel that'd suddenly taken an unnaturally depressing turn. And he was going to set her back on track.

"hey."

She looked back up at him.

"lemme tell you a story, eh? lighten the mood a lil'."

A tiny indication of a smile appeared on her lips before she answered.

"...Sure."

"kay...so, i'm a sentry in snowdin forest, right?"

"Yeah."

"my main job is to sit at my post and watch for humans...which is boring. fortunately, deep in the forest, there lies the door to the ruins, from which you came? you know what it looks like; large, imposing...always locked. it's the perfect place to practice my knock-knock jokes."

She managed a small scoff of a laugh, her grin growing slightly bigger.

"so, this one day, i'm standing there, knockin' 'em out, like usual. you know the drill; i knock on the door and say 'knock-knock...and was i in for a shock."

"What happened?"

"never saw it comin'...from the other side of the door, i hear a woman's voice."

Her eyes widened a bit.

"'who is there?' she asks. so, naturally, i respond: 'dishes.' 'dishes who?' 'dishes a very bad joke.'"

Ginger snorted out her own snicker.

"and she just starts _howlin'_ with laughter. like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. so i keep 'em comin', and she keeps on laughin'...it was a blast. she's the best audience I've ever had. and then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks on the door and says 'knock knock!' so i say 'who's there?' 'old lady!' 'old lady who?' 'oh! i did not know you could yodel!"

Now it was too much; the laugh she'd been suppressing escaped her in a hushed chortle.

"oh, you like that, eh?" he remarked. "well...needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. heh...eventually, i had to head out, though; papyrus gets kinda cranky without his bedtime story. but she told me to come by again when i next got the chance."

"Did you?"

"you kiddin'? it's been a thing between us ever since june, tellin' each other bad jokes through the door. it rules."

"So, this woman. Have you actually, erm...seen her at all? Her face, I mean?"

"nope. there's a door in the way."

"Well, yes...But it can open from the inside."

"oh. well...you'd probably know, since that's where you came from...do you know her yourself?"

"Heck, yeah, I do," she replied. "I didn't think anyone outside here would know her!"

"huh...was she good to ya?"

"Absolutely. Her name's To-"

"ah, bupbupbupbupbupbup. no names," he interrupted her. "...want it to be surprise for when we finally meet face-to-face. gives it the shock value."

"Oh...Okay, then."

"'kay...so, one day, i noticed that she wasn't laughing as much as usual. so i asked her what was up, and she told me somethin'...kinda strange. she said: 'if a human ever comes through this door...could you please, please promise something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?'"

Her eyes got wide again.

"now, i hate making promises. and this lady...like we already discussed, i don't even know her name. nonetheless...someone who sincerely likes bad jokes...has an integrity you can't say 'no' to."

"...So that's why you've been watching over me. Uh...Awkward question."

"'sup?"

"About T-...the lady in the Ruins. Do you, uh...have feelings for her? Just curious is all; might be able to set you two up, who knows?"

"nah," he answered. "romance? isn't my thing. besides, i'm too lazy for any relationship. i'd just drag her down...she can find better."

"Ah, I see..."

"...'ah, i see?' what about you teasin' undyne and my bro 'bout that kinda stuff? that ain't the law of equivalent exchange."

"Well, I...don't think it'd be a good idea to tease you after that promise you made to her."

"hmm...well, i guess you'd be right. man...do you know what would've happened if she hadn't said anything like that?"

"No; what?"

"heh," he laughed, closing his eyes. "buddy..."

He opened them again...

The white pupils floating around in his eye sockets had vanished, revealing two empty voids on each side of his face.

"**...You'd be dead where you stand.**"

The jovial atmosphere was gone in an instant. That face he was making...She'd only seen it one other time; not long before she'd fought against Papyrus. He'd warned her, specifically, not to fight him. And she hadn't.

She didn't know what Sans was like on the battlefield, but something told her that he was a lot stronger than he made himself out to be.

And he was being absolutely serious about the matter.

She placed one hand over the other on the table, looking down at them again, letting out a slow and quiet, but deep breath.

"Well..." she finally said, her brow slightly furrowed with a mix of emotions...none of which were good. "...I never would've guessed."

"**Kid?**"

"What?"

"...lend an ear for a sec, huh?"

His eyes went back to normal in an instant.

"...i never would've got to know you if i'd blasted you into oblivion just outside the ruins. never would've known how much you were gonna mean to so many people. look at everyone down here. they love you. gerson, the temmies, alphys, that kid from snowdin...papyrus. him, especially. you might not realize it, but you've done a lot for him. if it weren't for you, his spaghetti would still be trash...and his friend count would still be stagnant. i guess i've got you to thank for a few things...besides, the past is in the past; i decided not to fry you, and look what i got out of it...a bit more happiness. so i guess i made the right choice, huh?"

Ginger nodded.

"i didn't really trust you all that much in the beginning, ging'," he admitted. "but i knew there was just...something about you that i could work with. i mean...hey. the lady in the ruins apparently isn't the ONLY one with a taste for corny humor."

"Hm..." she scoffed. "...No."

"so quit being such a numbskull and relish in some more of my skele-puns."

"...Heh...Heh heh...Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...!"

It wasn't long before both of them were laughing, and it wasn't until their sides started hurting that they realized that they had several eyes on them from different tables.

"Hey, you know? I really shouldn't be actin' all salty about it," Ginger told him. "Almost everyone's wanted to kill me at some point down here, right?"

"yeah, heh...so. pals?"

"Pals."

They met with another firm handshake across the table.

"ey, come on. let's get outta this stuck-up joint. these peeps are too refined for us."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Well, that was amusing," the human remarked when she opened her eyes, carrying her cloak on one arm. "Oh...We're back outside, eh?"

"hey. you can make an entrance in there this way...huntress."

"D'oh, stop it, you dork!" she chuckled.

"heh heh...heh...heh. welp, gotta head back to snowdin. anything else?"

"No, that's it. I, uh...I'll bust you guys out of here and we'll all see each other again when I do."

"lookin' forward to it...well, hasta la vista," Sans bid, extending his arm one more time. "take care of yourself kid...'cause we all care about you."

"Will do," she nodded, meeting him...

"...Oh, to hagsmire with this. Get over here!"

"wh-"

Before he could ask anything, the skeleton was pulled in and wrapped securely in an embrace.

"...heh."

He returned it, giving the Huntress a few good, firm pats on the back before they separated.

"...cool. thanks for that...well...later."

He headed back towards the alleyway.

"See you under the stars!"

"...bye, kid."

He disappeared around the corner. Ginger already knew that if she looked that way, he wouldn't be there. He had his...own way of doing things.

She flung her cloak back on, and was just about to head back inside when she saw something on the ground.

A piece of paper, it looked like. Maybe a flyer of some sort. She picked it up and read the glittery purple ink scrawled out on it.

"_Hey!_

_Go up the creepy  
alleyway on the  
right for some  
great deals!_"

"What..."

She looked down said alleyway. There was graffiti on the wall and the ground that way.

And having not grown up around alleyways, she trusted it well enough, walking swiftly down it.

She turned a corner, and behind the hotel, there was a small table covered in a sparkly pink cloth. There was someone running it, but whoever it was didn't seem to be aware of her yet; the figure was messing with things on the ground behind the table, it sounded like, and their green, scaly, ridge-backed tail swayed back and forth in the air.

"Um...Hello?" she asked.

"Ooh! Customers!" the monster's starkly female voice sounded, her reptilian tail swishing a bit faster as she stood up straight and turned to face the human. Ginger quickly found herself face to face with...

An alligator.

With hair.

And the creature looked just as shocked as she was.

"Oh. My. God," she uttered, putting her hands over the tip of her snout. "...The Huntress."

* * *

**A.N: Uh...**

**Sorry, Soriel shippers.**

**But Toby said it himself.**

**Boy...I'm running out of ideas on what to say in these author's notes, but I don't intend to stop; I've been doing it since chapter 1. So use the time you'd usually waste reading this and go do something productive...Or you could browse dank memes. Whatever floats your boat.**

**Finally got this done; I tried to have it done earlier, but all of my writing got deleted the other day because the internet went out in the middle of my work and I HAD TO WRITE IT ALL OVER AGAIN AHH.**

**Aight, Imma head out. See you guys next time! :D**


	27. Chapter 25: The Last Resort

**A.N.: Before we begin, here's a response to TimeBlade's most recent review concerning the title image, since I can't directly reply to it.**

**Yeah, I sort of did that on purpose, because of what the character used to be.**

**Also yes, I illustrated the picture myself(just not the border.)**

**Okay, ready? Here we go!**

* * *

"Catty! CATTY, GET OVER HERE, WHERE ARE YOU EVEN AT?!"

"In the other alleyway, Bratty!" another voice sounded, and its owner peered out from behind the corner; it was a feline monster, with a purple pelt and overalls. "Someone's gotta write out all these flyers!"

"Forget the flyers, girl! We've got company!"

"What's up?"

The cat ran over and skidded to a halt beside her fellow salesmonster, and only had to look at the human on the other side of the table for a single second to instantly recognize her.

"Oh. My gosh."

"Catty, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"That depends on what you're seeing. What are you seeing?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm seeing the Huntress right now. You?"

"Same."

It went almost dead quiet for a moment; Ginger could barely even hear them breathe. They slowly turned their heads to face each other, and then back down to the human across from them, eyes wide.

And then, the hugest grins formed on their faces as they each drew in a thrilled gasp.

"Like...What are _you_ doing HERE?!" the alligator blurted.

Catty was holding back a high-pitched squeal of excitement.

"Catty, Catty, stay cool! Get the stuff up here!"

"On it!"

She stooped down and plopped a cardboard box full of wares on the table. Once that was taken care on, she folded her hand paws and rested her head on them, looking intently at the Huntress.

"So, like...Can we get you anything?"

Ginger finally started to recover from her confusion.

"Wait wait wait, hold on," she interrupted. "What'd you two say your names were?"

"Oh, gosh, sorry about that," the gator apologized.

"Like, how rude of us," the cat chimed in.

"I'm Bratty, and this is my best friend, Catty."

"I'm Catty, and this is my best friend, Bratty."

They both responded to the human's question in perfect sync, and once they realized it, they burst into a fit of giggles.

"Sorry, sorry sorry..." Catty chirped. "Uh, did you get that?"

"You two are Bratty and Catty?"

"Um, yeah."

"Who wants to know?" Bratty asked.

"From Undernet?"

"Oh, you know us in there?"

"Oh my god. She knows us on UNDERNET, BRATTY!"

"What's you're account name!?"

"Well, it's...Not human, unlike myself."

"Not human?"

"Definitely."

"Def-...Wait. YOU'RE DefinitelyNotAHuman!?"

"You're the noob we were talking to!?"

Catty threw her paws over her mouth again, regretting what she'd said.

"Uh...Not that we think that anymore."

"Chill, you two. Uh, now as for why I'm here...What've you got? Anything?"

"Oh, yeah," Bratty replied. "Like, check it out!"

She carefully poured the contents of their ware box onto the tabletop to display it. Ginger's eyes scanned over everything from left to right. There was a small metal key, a pile of miscellaneous, half-eaten food, a hat, and...

"...Wh..." she stammered at the sight of the cylindrical metal weapon laying among the rest of the junk. "...W-where'd you get that thing?"

"Like, where does anyone find guns, or food, or-"

"We found it in the garbage!" Catty exclaimed, earning her a look from both of the other girls present.

"Oh."

"...But, like, it's GOOD garbage, at least," Bratty added. "You'd be amazed at some of the things humans throw away."

"...Yeah..."

She actually found herself leaning back away from the pistol.

"Is it...does it have-"

"No," Catty answered, picking it up...and pointing the barrel at herself to look inside it. "It's empty."

The human cringed at the sight of it.

"...Are you a hundred percent positive about that?"

"We tried firing it," Bratty explained. "Nothing happened. Actually, we don't really know how they work; if fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this is, like, the only gun in the entire Underground. At least one in this good shape."

"Let's hope that number stays stagnant. Uh...How much is the hat?"

"It's, like, 350, right Catty?"

"350, yeah."

Ginger whistled.

"...No can do; don't have that kinda gold. Eh...Besides, I've already got this thing," she told them, pointing up at the hood covering her head.

"Oh my gosh. I'd trade in TEN cool hats for something like your wicked cool cloak."

"Tell me about it, Bratty. Where'd you get it? Looks, like, super fashionable."

"Um...I'm not entirely sure where you could get this. Someone I knew back in Snowdin gave it to me as a, uh...Gyftmas present? It's not exactly in mint condition anymore, but this thing's served me pretty darn well through...well, just about the entire Underground outside of the Ruins. And it's multipurpose, too; it works as a disguise, good for surprising your enemy in battle, keeps you warm..."

She suddenly remembered that she was still in Hotland, and the moment she did, she could feel the heat buildup from within the teal garment.

"Speaking of which..."

That was when she flung the hood off her head, revealing her tawny, staticized locks, as well as a much lighter-looking complexion without the shadows the hood cast.

"I forgot I was still in Hotland for a sec...Man, good thing this hotel has air conditioning, am I right?"

Bratty and Catty's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the hoodless Huntress; something they'd never expected to see in person, and not anywhere near this close up.

"Oh my God..." the both uttered simultaneously.

"What?"

"YOU'RE _ADORABLE!_"

Now they were both on the verge of squealing.

"I, like, never would've guessed!"

"_Ueeeee~, Bratty, she has cute baby human cheeks!_"

Ginger scowled, trying to cover up the embarrassed pink hue that'd formed on her face.

"Hey...Th-this ain't cute!" she pouted. "This is a warface!"

"Then you humans must have ADORABLE soldiers~!" Catty squeaked. "Like, is this as big as you get?"

"No; Undyne was this tall when she was my age, so she says...I guess that means I have something to look forward to."

_If I end up stuck being like this..._

"Whoa, really? Bratty, is she serious?"

"Was Undyne that squeezable-looking?"

"I doubt something like HER would be in a million years."

"Like, how old are you, even?"

"Yeah, like, fourteen? Fifteen?"

"Twelve."

"Whoa..." the both gasped. "That, like...makes you're capable of even more impressive."

"Eh...Guess that's a plus," the human replied nonchalantly. "Uh, how much for the food?"

"It's, like, totally wicked cheap compared to what you'll get inside," Bratty informed her. "...But you know what? Forget the prices, this is on the house."

"Uh...Are you sure about that?"

"Chill," Bratty chimed in. "The food's cheap compared to our other stuff. Besides, you make up for it with your awesomeness."

"Well...Alright, then," she accepted. "...What kinda grub you got?"

"We took a daytrip to Snowdin the other day to look for some cool junk lying around, and we found this behind one of the buildings."

"Wasn't it just sitting on one of the air generators back there, Bratty?"

"That's where it was. Guess someone forgot it back there."

The cat monster dug out something from the pile and placed it before the customer.

"Hey...I think I know where this is from."

No mistake, she was looking down at a burger. And even though it had long since lost its heat, AND had a large bite taken out of it, it still looked plenty appetizing.

"I'll take it," she announced, taking it up off the table.

The two monsters turned around, and Ginger heard them whisper to one another excitedly.

"Oh my gosh!"

"The Huntress, like, totally digs us!"

"Best. Day._ Ever~!_"

When they turned back to face the human, she was already working on the abandoned burger. Since monster food didn't rot, she had no concern with how long it'd been sitting out; it tasted just as good as her first one.

"This is good stuff, I tell ya...Was the building you found this behind a joint called 'Grillby's?"

"Um..." the alligator tried to recall. "I think?"

"Thought so."

"Have you, like, been there?"

"Friend of mine swung me on over there and we chowed down. Nice place..." She took another eager bite out of it. "...His brother hates it, though."

"Dang...You've been all over the place, haven't you?"

"About every place I can think of. But I'll be honest; Hotland's my least favorite so far. Too much heat for my liking. I prefer the tundra. You?"

"I DO sorta like Snowdin, too," Catty agreed.

"_Eesh!_ Not me, nu-uh," Bratty cringed. "Too cold. And I don't have fur or anything like that. Makes me all sluggish, and it just feels super gross..."

"Reptiles and snow don't mix well, I don't think," Ginger chimed in with full mouth. "Cold-bloodedness, am I right?"

"Totally...Waterfall's a bit better."

"Oh, we LOVE Waterfall," Catty gushed. "It's, like, SO calm, and the sound of the water is SO nice."

"Plus, that's where the garbage dump is! Uh...Did we tell you that Alphys used to take us there?"

She swallowed.

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. But, like, we enjoyed it."

"We still do go there a whole lot; he got us hooked."

"She doesn't usually sell the stuff she finds, though," Catty continued. "And she's usually looking for these weird cartoons, or something like that."

"Actually, ever since she became the Royal Scientist, and started doing a bunch of sciency stuff for Asgore, we, like...haven't seen her at all."

"How long ago was that, Bratty? Pushing a year since we last saw her in person?"

"She has Undernet, though, so, like, at least we know she's alive and all that."

"Something's bothering her, I think," Ginger told them, finishing off what was left of the abandoned burger.

"Oh, man...Never thought I'd have Grillby's again for a while...Where was I? Oh, right...So, anyways, I've been wanting to get to the bottom of it, but she keeps telling me I can't know anything about it...No one can."

"Dang...Catty, you don't think something went wrong with her sciency stuff, did it?"

"I mean, she made Mettaton in order to BECOME the Royal Scientist. If she's smart enough to do that, I don't see how she couldn't find a way to pull herself out of whatever jam she's in...Weird. Like, how embarrassing could it possibly be?"

"Or bad? Like, she's a softie. She wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose; it'd make her feel like the worst person in the world."

_And she seems to think that regardless..._

"I wish Metta-turd would give her the credit she's due," the human continued. "She's the one who built him in the first place, right?"

"That's right," Bratty confirmed. "But Mettaton acts like being built was, like, his idea somehow."

"Like, how?"

"I wouldn't know," Ginger admitted.

"They actually used to be pretty close friends, I know that much," Catty added. "But, like, not anymore."

"Honestly, I always loved Mettaton, since he's, like, the only star down here," Bratty stated.

"Yeah; he's, like, totally my robot husband. He just doesn't know it yet."

"That's cool and all, Catty, but, like, don't you think he's been kinda...over the top since she showed up?" the gator monster asked, addressing the Huntress.

"It might just be his nerves. He's been the only celeb down here for so long that he might be afraid of getting, like, pushed out of the limelight."

"Um...You guys said that I was all over Undernet and the television, right?"

"Uh, yeah," the both answered.

"So then...The king must know about me by now, right?"

The two monsters exchanged looks with each other, then both stifled a laugh.

"I actually kinda doubt that, Bratty."

"Yeah, he's like, a total goober."

"And even before the whole quiz show thing, we knew that Alphys TOTALLY had the hots for him! Do you think he even have a phone? Or a television?"

"I dunno...If he found out about you by now, he probably would've come to scope things out, don't you think?"

"Well...You two do have a point. But he's the king. You would think at least someone's tipped him off by now."

"Even if they did, I dunno if he'd have the heart to just, like, kill you in cold blood."

"That's why he gets the Royal Guard to do that, right Bratty?"

"And Undyne's been staying out of my business, thankfully...Maybe she spread word NOT to tip him off? Who knows...Isn't she second in command around here?"

"Yeah, maybe she did do that!" Bratty agreed.

"But, like, doesn't she mega hate humans?"

"She does...But I convinced her not to kill me. I mean, we're by no means on friendly terms, but...She understands my relationship with the rest of the Underground, at least. One life touches a hundred others, right?"

"Wow..."

"That's super deep."

"But even if he doesn't know, I've still gotta meet up with him. I thought, 'Hey, maybe I can convince him to call the whole thing off if I tell him I could try to find another human myself once I cross over to the surface again.' That meeting's not much further away."

"Well...Should we, like, let you go ahead and do that?"

"Yeah, Bratty and I don't wanna take up too much of your time if you're going to New Home."

"I guess I should be getting back on the road...Hey. Nice seein' you guys, though. Wish me luck!"

She turned to leave and head back out of the alley.

"Oh, and thanks for the burger. I REALLY needed that, after everything."

"Like, I know you're leaving and all," Bratty acknowledged. "But, like, we'll see you again some day, right?"

"...If you decide to look for me once you get to the surface," Ginger told them. "...Just look to the skies."

"Wow..."

"That's, like, MEGA deep, Bratty."

"Well...I'm off. I'll see you two beneath the stars."

She pulled her hood back over her head and trekked back the way she came.

"Like, we'll miss you when your gone!"

"Don't forget us!"

"Oh, I definitely won't forget you two!" she called back with a wave and a smile.

And then she turned the corner and disappeared, making her way back to the hotel door.

She passed through the glass doors and scanned the interior. It was admittedly very classy-looking, with well-kept yellow tiled flooring, potted plants on either side of the entrance, a nice red area rug lining the floor, a fountain in the center of the lobby...

Actually, the fountain appeared to be malfunctioning; the water spurting out of the Mettaton statue's, um...mouth, which she was sure he didn't have, was sending it not back into the fountain pool, but rather out onto the rug, forming a rather large wet spot on it.

_Someone should fix that..._ she mentally remarked.

There was a Save Point right in front of the fountain, and she swept her foot across it.

***Hotland-Hotel Lobby**

***File Saved**

She nodded, then scanned over the area some more.

There were hallways leading to several different locations; the one to the far left of the lobby lead into that restaurant that she and Sans sat down in, and to the right, there were what appeared to be a row of doors. Those were likely the hotel rooms for rent. And there was one more door, on the wall she was facing, with a sign over it.

"**_MTT-BRAND Burger Emporium_**"

This was the place she'd been told about.

"Let's see if I can stock up for the road..."

She went through the doors and looked around. It was a surprisingly small joint; maybe it was a to-go only place? No, there WERE a few bar stools along the counter she sit down at, as well as four booth seats along the wall.

There was a monster manning the counter; a cat monster, like Catty, but male, thinner, and his short pelt was more of a...natural color, being a lighter brown. He seemed oblivious to her, busy wiping off the countertop halfheartedly, the blank gaze in his eyes making him look...drained.

She approached the counter and cleared her throat to alert him to her presence.

The cat's ears perked, and he looked up at whoever made the noise.

"Oh," he exclaimed, quickly straightening himself up, trying to hide his exhaustion. It seemed to disappear with what he said next.

"Welcome to MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Glamburger. Sparkle up your day!" he greeted. But his tone was flat and hollow, as though he'd said those words a million times before. "How can I help you, O customer?"

"Hmm..."

She peered at the menu displayed on the wall behind him.

"**Starfait-60G**"  
"**Glamburger-120G**"  
"**Legendary Hero-300G**"  
"**Steak in the Shape of Mettaton's Face-500G**"

She checked her bag again; only 67G. She only had one option.

"Would you recommend the Starfait?"

"Well, I've never eaten one...But I guess they're pretty good, because people buy 'em, and what goes in 'em is plenty edible."

One of his ears began to twitch some...And his eye along with it.

"Um...You okay, man?"

"Fine, fine!" he fibbed. "Perfectly fine!"

"Um...Okay...Just get me a Starfait, then," she told him, placing the dur amount of gold before him.

"Thanksy! Have a fabu-ful day!" he blurted upon the purchase.

Something was obviously amiss with him, but he plastered a more sane smile on his face and turned to the kitchen behind him to prepare the order.

Ginger noticed that now, not only were his ears and eyes twitching, but also the very tip of his tail. Didn't cats typically twitch their tail tips when they were agitated?

"Are you sure there's not a problem?"

"No, no! Everything's fine!" he assured, holding back a growl as he worked. "Just...Maybe take your cloak off! If my boss sees someone not presenting proper dining etiquette in his joint, well then, ha! He'll...take it out on me for not enforcing it."

"Wait, is he here now?" she asked him, tensing up.

"Uh...I think he went to go do something show-related...But who knows when he might be back. He could come right through the door in two seconds, you know?"

He still had that fake smile pasted across his face.

"Why do you ask? Need him for something?"

Ginger leaned over the countertop, glancing behind her to make sure nobody was listening in. But she and the cat were the only two occupying the emporium.

"...You're talkin' about Mettaton, right?"

The monster turned his head to face her again.

"Why are you tryin' to talk to me?" he asked her. "Don't you know I'll get in trouble if I get chummy with the customers? Heh heh...Heh...

He looked down, obviously very miserable, as the prepared Starfait.

"...Sorry."

Ginger looked around again.

"There any security cameras in here?"

"No, ma'am. My boss never thought to have any installed, but he keeps tabs on things well enough by himself...micromanagement, if I ever saw it."

The human scoffed.

"You don't need to 'ma'am' me," she assured him, looking around just one more time before flinging the hood back off her head to reveal herself.

"...Wait," the feline creature realized. "You...You're the-"

"Huntress. Yeah, I know. Stopped by here to fill up for the road," she said to him, her voice hushed.

"Oh, God...If he finds out I went ahead and gave you-"

"He's NOT going to find out about this. Not on my watch..."

The monster said nothing, but did give the Starfait he'd finished making her a doubtful look.

"You know what I'm gonna do if he bursts in here?" the human whispered.

"...What?"

"I'm..." She looked around again. "...I'm gonna kick my foot out at his wheel and make him fall over onto his square-"

The cat actually stifled a genuine laugh.

"You'd actually do that to the Underground's biggest celebrity?"

"All I need to do is attack his weakest point; his pride," she explained to him. "Hey, did you catch his last live performance? It was a drag."

"Heh heh, yeah...Heh...Heh heh heh heh...I get it, 'cause of the whole dress thing, huh...?"

The monster put the Starfait in front of her.

"Hope you like it," he commented. "I mean, it's made of real food, at least."

"What's everything else made of?"

"Well, let's not even get started on the Glamburgers," the cat cringed. "Apparently Mettaton thinks sequins and glue are edible."

"Ew, gross!"

"Tell me about it...I don't know why everybody loves 'em."

"Sounds like a twisted bandwagon of some sorts to me...I can't afford anything but this Starfait, but what's the Legendary Hero like?"

"Well, it's made of food, at least. I guess it looks kinda cool...Not the highest quality stuff, though."

"What about the...um...Steak in the-"

"Don't ask. Please."

"Oh. Okay."

She peered down at the Starfait; not exactly the humble Nice Cream she was more geared toward, but it did look appetizing with all of the layers of fruit and dairy stacked over each other. Not to mention the whole thing was topped with a generous amount of sugar sprinkles and garnished on the side with a huge star-shaped hunk of pineapple.

Hey, and fruit was technically healthy, right? So she knew she wasn't consuming 100% junk.

She took a curious bite out of it; sure enough, it was just as good as it looked. But she decided to save it for later, when she would more likely need it, so she removed the pineapple chunk and snapped the plastic cap provided to her over the top, then stashed it away among her arrows for easy access.

"So..." Ginger said to the worker. "...Can't help but notice you seem kinda frazzled."

"You have no idea...Um, so...I wanted to be an actor when I was younger. Thought that movin' to Hotland would be my big break; it was my dream to work with Mettaton... Heh...The naïve teenager I was. All I can say is to be careful what you wish for, buddy, 'cause you just might get it."

"I take it things didn't go as you anticipated?" she asked, skeptically twirling the pineapple piece.

"...No. He stuck me here, instead of givin' me a chance on the screen. Doesn't want anyone takin' up room in his special spot of stardom," he told her in a mocking voice.

"That's probably a secondary reason he wants me dead; I've been gaining a lot of attention since my debut down here, and to be honest..."

She leaned in closer to whisper into his ear.

"...Sure, the positive attention's great, but it just gives him another reason to want me terminated."

"Well, take it from me, little buddy, you're lucky. You've still got a life to live, friends to look up to, places to go...I'm 19 and I've already wasted my entire life."

"Can't you just...quit the job you have here?"

"That sounds like an easy way out, don't it? But there's one thing that keeps me goin'...Maybe, just maybe if I keep giving this pathetic excuse for a job all I have, the square will finally wise up about some things and cast me in a show of some sort. I can't stop now; not when I've gotten this far, so until then, I'll just have to survive...At least the pay's not horrible. 40G an hour at nine hours a day at least gives me something to work for. And payday's just the day after tomorrow...Let's just hope I don't have to remind him like last time."

"He forgot. To pay you." she clarified, popping the pineapple chunk into her mouth.

...Tangy. Maybe a bit too much so for her liking, so she didn't bother savoring it.

"I mean, I did get the paycheck...But people had to remind him. But every time someone says something of the sort, he has SOMETHING to complain about. The last time he went on a tangent about how attractive people are the most pressured and that he should be the one being paid more. As though he didn't have enough dough stashed away already, the stuck-up peacock..." He scoffed. "...Why do people find him so attractive anyway?"

"I know, right?" Ginger agreed. "He's just a rectangle with noodle arms on a wheel. End of story."

"Yeah...So, um...Funny story; one time, I bought one of those kits online that were supposed to make you more, uh...rectangular. So he'd maybe reconsider his decision to stick me in here...Um...They don't work. Don't waste your money on those things."

"Doesn't sound like a pleasant experience."

"Steer clear of attractive people, kid. Unless you're 'one of them,' they'll just take advantage of you."

"I just hope Mettaton got bored enough the last time that he won't try to jump me with anything anymore. Besides, I'm almost out of his precious 'limelight,' so pretty soon he won't have to worry about me...I just hope Dr. Alphys gets the chance to remove those anti-human combat features one of these days."

"Let's hope for that. It makes him even more nuts, don't it?"

"You're tellin' me...Well, uh...I barely have enough gold left to buy a Spider Donut from the Ruins. How 'bout you go ahead and take it."

"Oh, no, no, I couldn't. Especially from-"

"Just take it; this stuff isn't that useful where I'm from anyway," she said to him, putting the measly 7G she had remaining before him. "Consider it a tip."

"...Heh...Thanks for that, kid. You know, they really were right about you liftin' people up when they're down."

"Ah, don't mention it...Say, once I find a way to get you guys out of here, maybe you'll find some more acting opportunities on the surface."

"That's one more thing that keeps me goin'...If I get up there before square-head gives me a break. I'll REALLY make it big."

"Wish you luck, man...I gotta head on out so I can get to New Home, though. Thanks for the chat," she told him as she slid off the stool and headed back for the door.

"Same. Any time, little buddy."

She gave the cat monster one last nod before exiting through the doors. He seemed a lot better off than before.

Before fully stepping out of the Burger Emporium, she scanned the vicinity for Mettaton, just to make sure he hadn't come back, as the restaurant employee had feared. But to her liking, he was nowhere in sight, which meant she could safely venture forth.

She noticed an elevator beside the restaurant she'd just come out of; outside of it stood a manticore, a black slime monster and...

A dragon.

An ACTUAL green-scaled dragon, wings, horns and all.

Sure, the revelation that monsters were real was a shocker, but DRAGONS? Even if they did technically classify as monsters, this was still pretty incredible.

As was the manticore, but this was a bit more so.

But contrary to the myths of them terrorizing villages and scorching everything in sight with a spew of their fore breath, this dragon seemed quite civil. He was just standing around with his monster brethren, hanging impatiently outside the elevator doors. She decided to approach him.

"Um...Sir?"

"Hm?" He turned to face her. "Oh, hey, there. Need somethin'?"

"Just wondering; where's the elevator lead to? Sorry, I'm fairly new here."

"Oh, well it lead-"

His phone rang, and he pulled it out, motioning for her to speak to the manticore to his side instead as he answered the call.

"Hello?...Yeah, about that, it's not workin'...Out of order, yes..."

The manticore, his fur as white as a Boss Monster's, answered her question instead.

"Elevator leads right up to New Home from here," he informed her. "But it stopped working right about a day ago...Don't know why. For the time being, the hotel's doing its best to accommodate everybody stuck here."

"Oh...How inconvenient," she remarked. If not for this occurrence, she might have been able to skip over the CORE. What luck...

"Say..." the manticore remarked. "...Aren't you-"

She rose a finger to her lips, then tugged the hood back over her head.

"...Oh, I get it. In incognito mode, eh?"

Ginger nodded.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be able to get home tonight, then," the dragon continued over the phone. "...Well, I think there's still some pizza left over in my treasure horde that you can heat up...The CORE? I, uh, I don't know. The layout of that place is confusing, I hear, and I don't wanna end up getting lost...Besides, with all the heat, I don't think I'd last that long..."

"Cold-bloodedness," the manticore commented. "It it's burning out, he burns up, and it's the same with the freezing cold. Such is the downside of being a dragon."

"At least when it gets cold, you have fire breath you can rely on," the Huntress shrugged.

"Guess you have a point."

"So, about the CORE. How do I get there from here?"

"It's just out the back exit. The path leads you right into it. I might as well head on through there to get back home myself...Or not. I dunno. I'm sorta considering bookin' a hotel room; never stayed in a place as fancy as this."

"Well, if you do decide on the former, then we'd have to call the place the..." She glanced cheekily to the side. "...Manti-CORE."

The creature hiccuped, then snorted, then burst out in a laugh, raising his gloved paw over his muzzle to stifle it.

"Man, if only the comedian here told jokes like that...But he doesn't like puns. Prefers the one-liners and funny story-type things...I mean that's funny too, but you should see this one guy that comes every month and streams out a whole string of puns. Hilarious guy; short, chill, always smilin'. I, uh...forget his name."

"He wouldn't happen to be a skeleton, would he?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Just a hunch."

"Oh, hey, shush. Here comes the resort comedian now. He just finished a performance, I think."

They looked away from each other, pretending that they hadn't been gossiping and whatnot, but Ginger decided she'd like to see the resort comedian for herself, so she left the manticore and his companions and went over to the fountain closer to the restaurant, where he was coming out from. He turned to the front, revealing himself to be...

A Snowdrake.

_...Wait a minute..._

What'd the one in Snowdin said?

"_My old man's a comedian at the resort in the CORE, and I'm gonna make it big like him, no matter how terrible he thinks my brand of humor is._"

This was his...

"Hey...! Hey!"

She waved at him, getting his attention. The bird monster looked to see who was calling for him, then met her the rest of the way himself.

"Sorry you missed the show," he apologized. "But the next one's just tomarrah-"

"Are you Snowdrake's dad?"

The question had been the last thing he'd expected out of the stranger's mouth, and he froze.

"Snowy..." he finally said, his spectacled eyes growing wide. "You...You know my boy?"

"Yeah, yeah! Told me you were the comedian here! Heck, he gave me this thing!" she answered him, giving her cloak a bit of a fling.

"He gave you that?"

She nodded.

"H-he tell you lotsa ice puns?"

Another nod.

The Snowdrake's eyes continued to widen. They conveyed several emotions at once; shock, disbelief, joy...

"...He's alright, then?" he asked, a wide grin across his beak.

"Well, yeah, he is. Why wouldn't he be?"

The smile fell, and he looked off the side for a moment.

"...I'll tell ya why."

They hung around the fountain as he gave her the details. Ginger could tell by the look on his face that the situation was grim.

"Snowy wanted to make it big like his fathah here, but his jokes...All he told were these bad ice puns. And the only one of us who actually liked them was his mothah. She was his best audience. Ha ha ha...Until...It hasn't even been a year since she, uh...passed on. After we lost her, Snowy couldn't stand livin' at home anymore...So one night, about two months after our...loss, I discovah his bed's empty. And the window was open...He ran away. I haven't seen him since."

"...That's horrible."

"But now I'd pay anything to hear his ice puns all day. See anothah thing; there's this othah guy that's been comin' to entertain at the resort lately, and he tells nothing but puns for the whole show. And the more I listened to them, the bettah I realized they are. I shouldn't have put them down. I shouldn't have ridiculed him for it...But you saw him, right? He's alive and well, right? That's...a big relief, to say the least. Friend, where is he? Where'd you meet him?"

"He's in Snowdin? Hangs around the forest with his friends, he says. Last we met, I gave him some advice about his puns...Said it worked really well."

"Snowdin...I shoulda thought," he scolded himself, slapping a wing over his face. "Oh, oh boy. I gotta get down there. I gotta congratulate him. Uh...Tell me, strangah. What did you think of his ice puns?"

"I think they were very_ icely_ executed."

The resort comedian stiffened for a moment, then another, even wider grin began to spread over his beak.

"Ha...Ha ha...! Y-you told him you liked 'em!"

"It'd have been _cold_ of me if I hadn't."

"HA! I, uh, I gotta run...Or fly, I can do that, too. But I gotta get down there!"

The bird monster ran for the front door.

"Thanks for everything!" he called back to her.

"See you later!"

He rushed out the glass doors, and Ginger saw his spread his icy blue wings for a takeoff before he disappeared.

She turned around, Saved at the fountain one more time just for good measure, then made her way to the back of the hotel lobby. There was a narrow hallway that lead to the back, and a flashing neon sign was positioned just above the doorway.

"**CORE**"

This was it. The last stretch before New Home.

She went through the doors, and the heat washed over her once again. But she was barely bothered by it anymore. She had other things on her mind.

Particularly, the calls she realized she had to make.

She pulled her cellphone out and dialed the first number. The monster on the other end picked up quickly.

"_YOU'VE REACHED THE GREAT PAPYRUS! MAY I ASK WHO IS CALLING?_"

"Hey, Papyrus."

"_OH! HELLO, HUMAN! IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE LAST WE SPOKE! HOW GO YOUR TRAVELS?_"

"Just passed through the MTT Resort Hotel, and I'm about to head on into the CORE."

"_...TH-THE CORE? ALREADY?_"

"I know...Time flies, doesn't it? I'll give you another ring before I step into New Home, how's that sound?"

"_UM...ABOUT THAT, HUMAN._"

"What's the matter?"

"_I HAPPEN TO KNOW THIS FROM THE TIMES MY BROTHER WENT TO NEW HOME. THE ENERGY EMANATING FROM THE CORE...GREATLY INTERFERES WITH PHONE SERVICE FROM SNOWDIN AND WATERFALL. I'M AFRAID YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET AHOLD OF US FROM THERE._"

"...Oh..."

"_SO, THEN...THIS IS GOODBYE, I_ _SUPPOSE?_"

"I...It looks that way."

"_W-WELL, I...I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK, HUMAN. AND DON'T FORGET ALL THE FUN WE HAD! AND...OH MY GOD! YOU LEFT THAT MOVIE HERE BY MISTAKE! SANS... SANS, WHERE ARE YOU!? I NEED YOU TO DO ONE OF YOUR WEIRD SHORTCUT TRICKS SO YOU CAN RETURN-_"

"Papyrus?"

"_...YES, HUMAN?_"

"Go ahead and keep that thing."

"_WHAT!? KEEP IT!? HERE!? IN SNOWDIN!? B-BUT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO FOUND IT IN THE FIRST PLACE! IT'S YOURS!_"

"Ah, I'll find another copy of it on the surface somewhere; that can't be the only one. Keep it as a memento, or something like that. Like the stuff you got from Gerson."

"_Y-YOU'RE POSITIVE YOU DON'T WANT IT?_"

"It won't kill me. Promise."

"_WELL...THAT'S GOOD NEWS FOR UNDYNE AT LEAST._"

"Why's that?"

"_I SHOWED IT TO HER, AND...OH, HERE SHE IS NOW! UNDYNE, WOULD YOU MIND TELLING THE HUMAN YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MOVIE SHE FOUND IN THE DUMP?_"

"_Huh, what? Oh...Wait, is that her?...Oh, God..._"

The fish monster now directed her speech at the human on the opposite end.

"_...Well, I gotta admit, punk. Your taste in movies ain't half bad...That was pretty awesome. I didn't think you humans would be into that sort of thing, watching your own kind get eaten, and stepped on, and decapitated and stuff like that...It's actually kinda disturbing, the more I think about it._"

"Well, don't think about it too much, or your head might run out of space."

"_Are you implying that my brain is small!?_"

"What? Me? Noooo, never."

"_Oh, shut up._"

"_UNDYNE...THE HUMAN IS LEAVING FOR THE CORE, YOU KNOW. WE WON'T BE ABLE TO TALK TO HER ANYMORE AFTER THIS._"

"_Really? She's finally on her way out? That rules!_"

"_YEAH..._"

"_Uh...For me, that is. Not for you...Sorry, man._"

"_I KNOW YOU DON'T THINK VERY HIGHLY OF THE HUMAN, BUT...DO YOU THINK YOU COULD AT LEAST HELP ME GIVE HER A NICE SEND OFF?_"

"_...Fine. Uh...So, kid. What are you gonna do once you get to the surface? If Asgore lets you, at least._"

"Probably find some other human to bring down here that you can use instead."

"_OH...SO THEN, EVEN IF YOU DO LEAVE, FREEDOM COULD STILL VERY WELL BE CLOSE?_"

"That's my plan."

"_SO, THEN, THE NEXT TIME WE MEET ISN'T SO FAR OFF AFTER ALL!_"

"I'd...Well...That's one way to think about it!"

"_NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! WELL, THEN, HUMAN! WE BEST LET YOU GET A MOVE ON! WE'LL SEE YOU IN...ERM...HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE?_"

"Can't say for sure...But soon, I hope."

"_THAT WORKS FOR ME! SEE YOU SOON, THEN, HUMAN! WE'LL BE WITH YOU IN SPIRIT!_"

"_YOU'LL be with her in_ _spirit. But, like...See you on the surface, I guess, ya nerd._"

"_OH, UNDYNE, LIGHTEN UP A BIT...OH! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, HUMAN! BEFORE YOU LEAVE, THERE'S ONE MOE THING I HAVE TO SAY!_"

"What's that?"

"_IT'S SOMETHING YOU...ALREADY KNOW. AN OLD SAYING FROM YOUR SNOWDIN DAYS._"

"...Ohhhhhh, that!"

"_ALRIGHT! LET'S SAY IT, THEN WE HANG UP! SO WE LEAVE EACH OTHER ON A HIGH_ _NOTE!_"

"Three..."

"_TWO..._"

"One..."

And, for the last time...

"**_ALAN._**"

From each end, the laughter that followed could be head from all the way to the Ruins and New Home respectively.

"_Hey...At least I get the joke now,_" Undyne remarked before the telltale clicking sound of the call being ended made itself known.

...That was it.

"...See you again someday, Papyrus."

Ginger sighed deeply, reminiscing for a moment about all of the good times they had...But she didn't stand there daydreaming for long; she realized, upon speaking to the skeleton one last time, that she should try one more time to contact...her, while she still had the chance.

She rang Toriel, with the tiny strand of hope she had left that she would answer. One ring...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six...

***Nobody picked up.**

No use. Still nothing. She began to wonder why she even bothered trying in the first place.

Ginger let out a solemn sigh, shaking her head. If Toriel could only know just how far she'd come, it would put her worries at ease...But it was not destined to be.

"Forget it..." she mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes. If she couldn't get ahold of the Boss Monster, then she should move on to the third call.

She dialed it, and the next caller actually answered, much to her liking.

"_H-hello?_"

"Alphys. I just finished up at the resort, and I'm heading into the CORE. Where are you at?"

"_I'm just about to get to the tile puzzle you did. K-keep going. I should be caught up all the way b-by the time you get to the end of the CORE._"

"Excellent."

"_Uh, keep me on, though! The CORE's tricky to navigate, s-so you might need some extra assistance!_"

"Got it. And thanks again for the help."

"_Uh...N-no problem._"

"One more question; the CORE won't interfere with our connection, will it? We're both in Hotland, but I just gave Papyrus one last ring, and he said that the phone service for Snowdin and Waterfall is cut off by the energy radiating from it."

"_Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, s-since I'm in Hotland, it shouldn't be a problem. Just keep at it!_"

"Will do. Alright...Let's do this."

She left the resort hotel behind her, and approached the entrance to the CORE. Now that she was staring it face-to-face, it was even more imposing. The enormous, looming, steaming metal labyrinth of a building that was the source of all electricity for the Underground seemed to look the human right in the eye and say to her:

"_**Go forth...If you so dare.**_"

Ginger was so astonished by the massive, buzzing structure itself, she failed to catch the dark figures entering into it before her.

* * *

**A.N: Let me share something with you guys.**

**Before I actually published this story, I had a few of the chapters to it prewritten in my docs. I was sort of experimenting with the story's concept just for the fun of it, and actually didn't plan on publishing anything until...Well, the day I published it. When the time came to submit them, I ended up editing some of the prewritten chapters a bit so they would fit the story's flow some more, but plotwise, they remained pretty much the same as how I first wrote them. In fact, there are STILL some prewritten chapters that have yet to come; it's a good way to stay dedicated to a story, you know?**

**Have I said something like this before? I feel like I've said something like this before, I just can't remember when...Whatever.**

**Hey, thanks to everyone who's been following this, still! I appreciate it bunches! See you guys next time! :D**


	28. Chapter 26: The CORE of the Matter

The otherworldly electric blue glow shone through like Undyne's spears. Ginger found herself drenched in it, as it lit up the whole inside of the tower. Throughout its walls, she heard the whooshing sounds of steam pouring out and the metal mechanisms within clanging and whirring.

She was in the CORE.

The first thing she saw when she entered into it was an elevator door staring her smack in the face.

"_Okay! See that elevator just when you walk in?_" Alphys pointed out from the other end.

"Staring straight at it."

"_Go ahead and use that! I-it should take you right to the second floor!_"

The Huntress approached the metal doors and ordered for it to go up with the press of a button on the side...Only to find that nothing happened.

"Alphys?"

"_S-something wrong?_"

"I think this elevator's out of whack, too."

"_What? That's weird. Isn't the one in the hotel not working either...? W-well, then! I guess we'll have to do this the longer way? Head over to the right of the elevator; th-there should be a passage there! Just head on through and keep heading up!_"

Sure enough, there was a doorway to the right. Ginger hastily went through it...

Only to find that it was a dead end. Beneath the floor holding her up, there was nothing but a flaming pit. She explained what she saw to the Royal Scientist, wondering if she'd accidentally given her the wrong direction.

"_...That pit isn't showing up on my map," she remarked. "...Guess we'll have to try the left side!_"

"Seems that way."

She tried the left...This path didn't lead into a dead end, thankfully. All that sat in the middle of the path was what appeared to be a small, black, curly-topped wizard's hat...A bit odd, but Ginger brushed it off as someone just having lost it.

"Okay. This path looks clear."

"_Great!_"

"Wait a second..."

That was when the hat on the ground began to tremble. She stared down at it...

And in an instant, out popped a monster!

"Huzzah!" it exclaimed, startling the human.

"...I'm gonna have to call you back, Al'."

She slid the phone back where it belonged, and to counter him, she pulled out her bow and arrow to ward him off. But he was unbothered by her threat of a gesture, and the glowing orbs he had at either side of him began to shine brighter, a smug grin spreading across his face as they launched a series of bullets at her.

With a swift roll off to the side and a few well-placed ducks and swerves, she dodged them all, then aimed at him again.

"Watch it, pal," she warned. "I don't care how shiny your-"

The monster interrupted her with a stream of nonsense coming from his mouth. Whatever he was uttering, it made no sense to his opponent. They were so strange, it nearly made Ginger dizzy listening to it...

But she shook her head to ward off the feeling and fired her arrow right between his booted legs, to which he was quite surprised.

"I'm almost where I have to be," she said to him. "And you're in my way."

"Tough crowd, eh? Well, then, good day to you. Alakazam!"

With a puff of white smoke, the monster completely disappeared.

"_D-didja get him!?_" Alphys hollered from the other end. "_I saw him jump you on the security feed, a-and I dropped the phone and missed it!_"

"He left. I'm fine. He's fine. It's all fine...But what do you think he's doing here?"

"_I was just about to ask myself that. Monsters d-don't typically hang out in the CORE; it's barely habitable! Not to mention the humidity..._"

"...I don't know," Ginger answered. "But I'll be able to handle myself with them, if they try anything."

"_Well, th-that's reassuring...Um, let's just keep going forward!_"

"Great idea," she mused, heading up the hall and entering through another gateway.

The path turned a corner to the right just up ahead, and when she followed it, Ginger found herself face-to-face with a laser blocking the path ahead.

"_Um, okay! You see those deactivated lasers lining the path ahead?_"

She looked along the wall to see them; it looked like they were supposed to come right at her.

"I do."

"_W-well, you can press the switch right there to your left to unblock the path...But it'll reactivate the lasers a-and make them pass through you. I'm tapping into the database now...It looks like they'll come in the order of orange, orange and blue. G-got that?_"

"Clear as day."

"_Okay! G-give it a shot!_"

The Huntress flipped the switch, and the lasers came fast.

And as soon as she saw the two blue lasers coming at her, she froze instinctively, and then stepped forward out onto the path as the final, orange laser whizzed by.

"_Oh my God! I'm sorry! I meant blue, blue, orange, not orange, orange, blue!_" Alphys exclaimed from the other end upon realizing her folly. "_A-are you okay!?_"

"I'm okay," the human assured her. "But you might wanna double-check next time, alright? Never hurts to double-check."

"_A-alright. Good point. Um...Let's just keep at it._"

"On it."

She continued in the given direction, and in the next room, Ginger came to a fork in the road.

"Alphys, I'm at a crossroads. Should I keep to the right or take the north path?"

"_Stay to the right. Th-the northern path just leads to another dead end._"

She followed her instructions, and sure enough, the right path continued. And up on the corridor ahead, there were more colored lasers.

Tons of them, this time.

"Oh, Glaux..." she muttered.

"_M-more lasers? I don't remember those being here...A-alright, no more risk-taking. I'll just deactivate these! Just give it a second!_"

So she waited a moment...That moment became two...then five...then ten.

Finally, the dinosaur spoke.

"_They...They're not turning off. I-I-I can't turn them off, I-_"

"Don't freak out, Alphys, whatever you do...So, they aren't turning off on your command, huh?"

"_I-it's almost like someone's c-completely blocked out external interference!_"

"You don't think the CORE itself might be responsible for that, do you?"

"_I-I-I don't know! I've altered the programming for the power here before, and it hasn't ever...Wait. Wait, wait, I know what I can do! I'll just turn off the power for the whole node! It'll get kinda dark, but you can still see enough to know where you're going!_"

"Great! See, you've got this."

"_Heh...Uh, okay, I-I'm inputting the code now! Get ready!_"

After a few more seconds, the lights flicked off. The blue glow coming from the previous room was enough to light her way to the other side.

"_Okay, go!_"

The human made haste as she went along the path, passing through a whole string of deactivated lasers as she speed-walked. This sure was a long trail of them.

"_Wait, WAIT, STOP! FREEZE!_"

Alphys' cry from the other end made itself plain, and Ginger complied with her outburst-

Just when the lights flickered back on, and the blue lasers ran right through her as they reactivated.

"...Why's the power back on...!?" Ginger squeaked, startled by everything that'd just occurred.

"_Oh God, oh God, oh God, I don't know! I didn't do that, I swear! I...Um...Uh, I-I have an idea. I'll turn the power back off so you can keep going, b-but stop every couple seconds in case it comes back on, okay? If it does, I'll just keep turning it off until you get to the end!_"

"That might work."

"_Alright. Turning the power off...now!_"

The room went black again, and the lasers went off with the lights, so the young human took a good six long, swift strides forward before pausing again. She was just in time; the lights flickered, then when they flashed to solid, the lasers started working again. So she waited there still for a few moments until the room went dark again along with the lasers, and she kept going until they turned on again after no more than another three seconds.

When they turned off the next time, she made a sprint for the end of the line and skidded to a halt once she was in the clear. She looked back to see the lights flicker back on and the blue lasers reactivate.

"How does anyone even navigate this place without your help?" she asked Alphys.

"_I-I don't know, really. These stationary lasers had been orange the last time I worked on them! Did...Did s-someone change the code for them? Weird...B-but we're past that now. Go on and see what's up ahead!_"

She turned the next corner, and was met with another crossroads; one path lead straight ahead north, one to the left and the other to the right.

"Okay, which one do I take?"

"_I...Wh-what?_"

She sounded confused.

"_Th-this doesn't look like my map at all...D-did they rearrange the CORE's layout? Already? I didn't think it was supposed to be switched up for another month...This...Um... I-I have to go, Ging'. There's something...Off about this. I'm gonna have to look further into it. C-call you back later...Maybe? I-if we don't run into each other, that is._"

"Wait, are you in the CORE right now?"

"_Y-yeah! I'm...uh...k-kinda...sorta...l-lost, though. Trying to find my way through here right. My map is...I-it isn't right._"

"You want me to come looking for you? You can't be that hard to find."

"_NO! I mean, uh...N-no trouble; don't worry about where I am, just...Just keep moving, o-okay?_"

"Well...If you say so. In the mean time, how about I see if I can figure this out myself?"

"_Um, yeah! Okay! Sounds good! D-do that! Uh...Bye!_"

She hung up in a hurry. Ginger saw another Save Point in the center of the four-way intersection, drawing near it.

***Hotland-CORE Branch**

***File Saved**

With that done, the Huntress looked over her three options. There were signs on the left and right branches, and she read each of them accordingly.

"**_North, the warrior's path.  
West, the sage's path.  
Any path leads to The End._**"

"The warrior's path, you say...?"

She was no sage, but certainly a warrior, so she decided to stick with what she knew the best. Her gait brisk, the Huntress continued straight ahead, ignoring every detour the path tempted her with along the way. She just had to keep going straight. For her fellow warriors. For honor. For glory.

And for freedom.

Finally the road turned to the right, and Ginger detected faint movement in the shadows along the path ahead of the monsters that lied in wait for her. She wasn't about to go in unprepared, however, so she took a moment to slip her cloak, pack and boots of in order to don the rest of her Temmie Armor before entering combat. On went the leather leggings, the tassets, the gauntlets, and then the boots again...She'd been wearing the boots for a while, she'd remembered, having slipped them on during Mettaton's live performance just in case the need be, so she had to remove them in order to do everything in the correct order.

She noted, as she slipped her chest plate on, that the Symbol of Bhachtyr she'd painted across the front of it had since lost some of its fiery luster, having turned from bright red to a dull shade of crimson, and it had even chipped away in some places...She mused for a moment that it was a sign of some sort; one that said her dedication to the Tytonic Union was beginning to fade with her time spent so far from its reach, but the young general was quick to dismiss the idea; she might be human, now, but she was still just as much a Pure One now as she'd been before her fall into the mountain...Right?

_Yes. Right. No exceptions,_ she falsely assured herself. _Keep going. You're almost there. And hopefully...You'll be able to see them again._

With all of her armor on, she flung the messenger bag back on over it, then pulled out her bow, along with several arrows. That was when Ginger realized she was running low on them; she'd managed to make so many of those arrows, the thought of running out of them hadn't crossed her mind until now.

Hopefully she wouldn't have to resort to actually using them.

With her armor secure and her weapon ready, she finally slid the cloak back on and tugged the frayed hood over her head, casting the eerie shadows over her face. The cape of the cloak had received a lot of damage itself since she'd been given it; there was a good chunk torn out from the bottom of it now, and the edges were lined with tears of all sizes. Not to mention she hadn't ever washed the thing, so it gave off a strange, mixed odor of earth and perspiration.

But she had grown accustomed to the smell, and now, she even proudly associated it with the scent of a seasoned, well-trained warrior.

And this was a warrior's path, so it was a warrior they would get.

"Alright!" she called out to her hiding opponents as she ventured forth onto the path ahead. "Show yourselves!"

There was a deep croak and a flutter of wings, and her first two opponents made themselves visible along the path. Ginger blinked when she saw them; they looked cannily like monsters she'd encountered in the Ruins, a Froggit and a Whimsun.

But they were a might...different-looking. Bigger. Stronger. More battle ready.

"Have at thee!"

"_**Crrrrroak!**_"

The monsters fired up a team attack, and the human found herself trapped within a ring of white bullets fluttering around her like moths as the Froggit summoned its array of fly bullets out towards her. She only had so much room to dodge without touching the edges of the moth trap...It was a good thing the flies moved as slowly as they did, and she was fortunate to come out of the attack without injury.

She aimed her arrow threateningly, but flashed them both a smile.

"Not bad, fellas," she said to them, deciding to use her mind as her weapon instead of her dwindling arrows. "Keep it up, and you could be surface soldiers someday."

They each looked at each other. The Froggit nodded thoughtfully, but the armed moth refused to go down so easily.

"No regrets," it said to itself before firing up another ring of moths. The Froggit stood idle as it watched Ginger maneuver carefully about the enclosed pace as the moth circle grew wider, then smaller, then wider again, and moved about from side to side and up and down.

"You put up a good defense," it complimented her.

"It's the best offense. And you've a good one yourself."

"I have found my peace..." the creature remarked. "...Proceed, human."

She nodded as the two monsters retreated back into the shadows, allowing her to continue forward. It was only a matter of seconds until she heard a mischievous cackle from the side of the path, and the figures emerged emerged from the shadows. It was another one of the cheeky wizard monsters in the black hats, and he was accompanied by a much larger creature; her huge, draconic face was on the body itself, surrounded by dark armor, and she held a sturdy spiked club in her hand.

"Ha ha! You haven't a chance against us, human!"

"...Farewell."

"We'll see about that, shall we?" she quipped, moving with the grace of a swan around the cross and particle bullets that had now scattered across the battlefield as though with no effort at all. Even the tricky wizard was amazed by her poise; he and his fellow mercenary had sent out so many projectiles at her, and she'd received nary a scratch!

"How is it so!?" he asked her. "I demand to know!"

"The secret ingredient is practice," she told him flatly.

"That can't be all! There must be a trick! Is it some sort of spell, or a magical stick?"

"Nothing of the sort."

He rose his head, revealing the curious eyes he had hidden beneath its shadows. He was very perplexed by Ginger's incredible ability to dodge such advanced attacks.

"Very well, human huntress, you've gotten quite far. But behold my companion and her spiked morningstar!"

The wizard monster bounced out of the way, and the giant, looming dragon slammed the bottom of her weapon onto the ground in a threatening manner before raising it into the air and approaching the human with it. The Huntress ducked and dove beneath her open legs to dodge the first swing, and then swerved to the side to avoid a lethal bash on the head seconds later. The creature was strong and well-armed, no doubt, but her heavy, lumbering size made her slow enough to evade easily.

And now that she was getting a better look at her, Ginger noticed how weary her large eyes appeared to be. It was almost like she hadn't slept in days.

"Whoa, hey, there," she told her. "Haven't you considered a break?"

It was like she didn't even hear her. The monster kept swinging her spiked club at the human in her vain attempt to clobber her, but the more she tried, the more disoriented she seemed to get. The monster could barely aim right in her fatigue, and her concentration on the target had been lost.

"...Adieu."

She fell down to one knee in exhaustion. She would likely just fall asleep any moment.

Honestly, that was something Ginger wanted.

The human stood over her kneeling form, placing her ganutlet-covered hand on the monster's shoulder.

"The war is over," she reassured the beast. "You can rest."

Her adversary let out a bellow of a yawn, her eyes growing heavy. The Huntress found herself whistling out a familiar tune to her; the one from the music box in Waterfall. It was exactly what was needed, as the monster slowly slipped from her knee to the floor as she listened to it, receiving the sleep that she so needed.

"Well, well, well!" the wizard drawled quietly. "You've bested us, it seems. To you, good luck, and to her, sweet dreams."

He hopped out of view, and Ginger stepped over the form of the armed dragon in order to proceed down the path. She looked down at the bow in her hands again; she wasn't sure how much she would need it now, seeing how else she was able to deal with the foes she came across. Nonetheless, this was still the Warrior's path, and she couldn't let her guard down just yet. So with the weapon held tightly in her gauntleted hand, she stepped forward. And when she caught sight of the end of the pathway, just up ahead, she beamed. She was almost there.

Her initial happiness was short-lived, however. Just a few more yards away from the end, she was jumped not by a duo, but a trio.

Three familiar figures blocked her path; the figures of a Whimsun, a Froggit and a Loox. It was almost like the CORE had taken pages from the book of the Ruins.

"Surprised to see us?" the Loox drawled.

"Three of you this time?" she retorted. "What a nightmare!"

"Well, it's a nightmare she wants, boys...You know the drill."

"You don't frighten me, human," the Whimsun told her.

The spiked Froggit croaked menacingly, and they each readied their attacks.

A stream of moths, flies and floating orbs of white magics materialized around her, coming from every direction. But the monsters were merciful enough to make their attacks slow, and the human ducked, swerved and spun about them until they disappeared again, only clipping one of the orb bullets along the way, receiving minimal damage.

_Thank Glaux for Temmie Armor,_ she reminded herself. _And the Temmies that make it._

"Not half bad, human."

"A formidable opponent, for sure."

"_**Robbit, robbit.**_"

"How much you guys wanna bet those arrows are just for show?" the Loox taunted. "Yeah...She can't really aim them right."

In response to his mockery, Ginger drew an arrow from her messenger bag without any second thoughts, tilted her bow towards the sky and fired it upward. A few moments passed before she spoke to them again.

"Hey, Loox. I'd move to the side if I were you."

The monster stepped a ways to the side, not seeing any malicious intent in her piercing blue gaze, and the moment he did, the arrow she'd fired landed right where he'd been standing, the tip of it embedded into the floor.

"So...I was wrong, eh? Well...Too bad she can't recognize monsters as well as she shoots."

"What ARE your names, then?" she pried.

"Astigmatism," the monster answered. "Not Loox."

"Whimsalot," the second corrected her. "The Whimsun in the Ruins are related, but we are not one and the same."

"**_Crrroak..._**" the third croaked thoughtfully.

"Final Froggit," Astigmatism said for him. "And if I'm not mistaken, he seems pretty impressed by what you just did with that arrow."

It nodded to her understandingly, then hopped away from the scene.

"...Guess he changed his mind about all this."

"Well, human," the Whimsalot addressed her. "You'll have to do the same to us if you want to pass!"

"You have a weapon of your own, don't you, Whimsalot?"

He looked down at the tiny, double-tipped spear he held.

"No magic business. I want to see how well you fight head on. What do you say?"

"...I've made my choice," he decided, gripping his weapon more tightly. "...I'll do it, and I'll finally bring honor to our kind!"

"Then, give it your all!"

The tiny creature fluttered towards her, but its strike was blocked by Ginger's bow, which was more than double the size of Whimsalot himself. Astigmatism watched as he and the Huntress clashed their signature weapons against each other repeatedly, the little moth monster intent on landing a hit. The human was impressed by him, really; he wasn't strong, but he was incredibly fast with his double-edged spear, and finally, she moved too slow to block it, and one of the spear tips landed in her side, cutting through the tough leather and reaching her side. She was lucky that it left no more than a small break in the skin, because it definitely could have done deeper had she been unarmed.

But she exaggerated her wound just a bit so that the Whimsalot might feel a tad more proud of himself.

"...Pretty good," she praised, laboring her breathing some. "You'll go far...on the surface."

"The long battle, finally ending...I bid you good luck."

He flapped his tiny wings and flew away. Now it was just the Astigmatism that stood in the way to the end of the path.

"...Yeah, I'm gettin' tired of this, too," he admitted. "One more attack, then I'm out."

"Make it a good one."

"Alright..." he shrugged.

His final attack was a series of floating, rotating, abstractly-shaped missiles. They moved slowly enough at first, but it soon turned out that their rotation made them harder to avoid, so she swerved around them as best she could, ducking beneath some. Finally the assault ended, and Ginger was still standing tall.

"...Not bad for a human."

"This human's seen and done a lot, Astigmatism."

"...Touché. You may go."

And he retreated back into the shadows, leaving the remainder of the path open. Ginger sped to the end, and quickly caught sight of a switch on the wall. It was red, which usually meant that whatever it activated was turned off. Therefore, she decided to turn it on and see what activate...Hopefully no lasers blocking her path. But she would find that out if she saw them, and just come back here to turn the switch off; simple as that.

She flipped the switch, and it started flashing green and yellow instead. She nodded, satisfied, then turned around to head back the way she came. The monsters that she'd fought were still lurking in the shadows, but they didn't come out to attack her again. Instead, they watched on silently.

"You made it to the switch, did you?" Whimsalot's voice came from the darkness.

"I did...So, what does it do, does anybody know?"

"You reactivated one of the elevators, I think," Astigmatism creaked. "In order to get to the functioning one, you'll have to pass through another room. You'll know the turn when you see it; there's another elevator sitting right next to it...But that one leads to the bottom floor of the CORE, and not New Home, so don't confuse the two."

"One more trial awaits you, before the end," the wizard monster called out to her. "So be ready, dear Huntress; it's your final duel, my friend."

"Good God, Madjicks, why do you talk all weird like that? You're almost as bad as that freaky Riverperson," Astigmatism berated.

"Astigmatism, when will you quit? You bare the marks of a hypocrite. Now go, young Huntress, take the path to the right. Within lies the exit, and therein lies the fight."

"...Goodbye."

"**_Ribbit, ribbit._**"

"So long, warriors," she bid them all, turning south again and leaving the warrior's path.

...She had to admit, though, Madjicks did sort of speak in riddles...But she was at least able to piece together that there was one more challenge awaiting her arrival at the end of the CORE.

Not wanting to waste any time, Ginger took the next right turn she came across. It came to yet another intersection; the northern path lead to a dead end, with nothing but a garbage sitting in it, and the other, which lead south, lead to yet another intersection. She decided to keep to the right, following the Madjick's instructions, taking the path heading east, and she was met by a bridge extended over a deadly pit of molten metal of some sort. The substance burned so hot that it almost glowed white, and the smell of ozone filled the atmosphere. It was a good thing the bridge was plenty sturdy-looking, or she might not have risked crossing it.

Not wanting to bother worrying about falling in, she flung her cloak to the side confidently and sprinted across the bridge, her metal boots clanging against the metal planks. The memory of Undyne's clanging boots pursuing her through Waterfall came back to her; it was only a handful of days ago that the captain was pursuing her like a hungry lion through the marshland, throwing her endless barrage of magical weapons at her and trying to impale her from underneath with her rising platform spears.

But she'd been able to best her when the finally met face-to-ugly face. Undyne wasn't the only one who ad a few tricks up her sleeve, and as a slipgizzle, Ginger knew the importance of having an ace to play when things looked bleak. And the most reliable card she had was her quick mind; she could conjure a lie, a defensive maneuver, or even a witty comeback in a split second to in order to save her hide. It was a trait she cherished and used to the fullest, and she was glad that her mind had not changed with her body when she first fell down the mountain.

Who knew? If the case was that she remained human upon reaching the surface, maybe, just maybe, she would be able to track down the Pure Ones again if they'd decided to stick around a while longer, and maybe the owl-turned human had just the tiniest chance of still being allowed in their ranks anyway. A human among Pure Ones...It was an interesting, almost abstract thought. But even if she could no longer fly, she could probably make it up somehow...She was physically stronger, right? And larger; any raccoon, which would have once posed a great danger to her, would now scamper off at the sight of her towering over it. And she could fight five owls at once, should she be given a sword to slice them with.

...Then again, why would the Pure Ones believe some human that came wandering by claiming to be one of them?

Once more, she shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. She'd have more time to think about all of this later. Right now, she had to finish what she'd started before her hope failed. And the last thing she wanted was to back down now, especially seeing how far she'd come, and how close she was to her goal.

The Huntress stood before the entrance to the next room, now. The elevator to the lower floor of the CORE sat next to it. And just beside the elevator...

She caught it from the corner of her eye, but she knew it when she saw it, and looked down at it. Right there on the floor hovered a shimmering Save Point. Not knowing how powerful the entity beyond the door was, she brushed her boot through the little yellow star, not wanting to take any risks.

***Hotland-CORE End**

***File Saved**

There. This was it. Time to face the music and fight her last foe before her meeting with the king.

Cautiously, she stepped out into the next room; the floor was painted black, and the narrow hallway lead into nothing but darkness.

Ginger readied her bow one more time, along with an arrow, as she traversed the dark room.

"I don't know what kind of monster you are, or what you plan on doing," she called out to her hidden enemy. "But I'll have you know I came armed."

"**AND I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I'M ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOUR GAME, WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT.**"

She whizzed around to face the all too familiar voice, and a spotlight came on, shining down on the Underground's long-running T.V. star.

"...It's you," she snarled.

"**OH, YES. OF COURSE IT'S ME, DARLING,**" he drawled. "**READY FOR OUR FINAL SHOWDOWN?**"

"Hmph," she scoffed. "I'll give you a showdown. You'll be incapacitated when I'm done with you. And once you are, Dr. Alphys will finally get the chance to drag your stuck-up metal rear back to the lab and get rid of your crazy anti-human combat features."

"**YOU STILL BELIEVE ALL OF THAT? AND HERE I WAS THINKING THAT YOU AT LEAST HAD SOME SEMBLANCE OF A BRAIN, IN TERMS OF HUMAN STANDARDS. MALFUNCTIONING? REPROGRAMMING? GET REAL, SWEETHEART. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW.**"

"I've had enough of the riddles!" she finally snapped, drawing her arrow back farther and threatening to fire it. "Tell me what's up and tell me now!"

"**OH, DEAR. YOU TWO HAD GROWN SO CLOSE. IT'D BREAK YOUR HEART IF I-**"

He was interrupted when the sound of elastic recoiling sounded off, and the next thing Mettaton knew, there was an arrow stuck in his metal body, having just missed his dashboard by an inch or two.

Like it was nothing, he pulled it out, a superficial dent in the arrowtip's place. But contrary to his usual face, he was not amused by this in the least bit. He looked up at the shooter; if looks could kill, he'd have broken down in an instant from the sight of Ginger's deathly glare. But they couldn't. And he was still standing tall.

"**...FINE. YOU WANT TO KNOW SO BADLY? IT'S YOUR PRECIOUS FRIEND, DR. ALPHYS. SHE'S BEEN PLAYING YOU FOR A FOOL THIS WHOLE TIME.**"

Ginger scoffed at the idea.

"Like I'm going to believe that; especially from the likes of you," she sneered. "She'd never do that."

"**WOULDN'T SHE, NOW?**" he snapped back. "**MAYBE IF I DUMBED IT DOWN A LITTLE, YOU MIGHT UNDERSTAND. AS SHE WATCHED YOU ON THE CAMERAS THROUGH HER MONITOR, SHE GREW ATTACHED TO YOUR LITTLE JOURNEY. DID SHE NOT TELL YOU THIS FLAT OUT HERSELF?**"

"Yeah, but-"

"**NO BUTS. THE MORE SHE WATCHED YOUR ADVENTURE, THE MORE SHE DESPERATELY WANTED TO BE A PART OF IT...SO SHE DECIDED TO INSERT HERSELF INTO YOUR STORY. SHE REACTIVATED PUZZLES. SHE DISABLED ELEVATORS. DIDN'T YOU SEE ALL OF THOSE MONSTERS HANGING AROUND THEM? ISN'T IT A BIT OF A COINCIDENCE THAT THE PUZZLES AND ELEVATORS THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE OFF OR RUNNING, RESPECTIVELY, WOULD BE IMPEDING YOUR JOURNEY NOW, AT THE LEAST CONVENIENT TIME?**"

"You can't-"

"**AND DID I MENTION THAT SHE ENLISTED ME TO TORMENT YOU IN THE FIRST** **PLACE?**"

Now with this claim, Ginger was made absolutely speechless.

"**SURPRISED? I FIGURED YOU'D HAVE GUESSED BY NOW. THE QUIZ SHOW? PLANNED AHEAD OF TIME. THE JETPACK SHEBANG? HER IDEA. THE NEWS PROGRAM? RIGGED FROM THE START. THE MUSICAL, AND THE COLORED TILE PUZZLE? A COLABORATION PLANNED BETWEEN US EVER SINCE YOU WERE IN SNOWDIN. THIS WAS ALL A FARCE. ALPHYS SET THIS ALL UP SO SHE COULD SAVE YOU FROM DANGERS THAT NEVER EXISTED. ALL SO YOU WOULD THINK SHE'S THE GREATEST PERSON...THAT SHE'S NOT.**"

He sounded so serious about this; he had no eyes to look into and read, but her gut gave no uneasy twist to indicate that he was lying. The human shook her head in denial; there was no way that Alphys could have done all of this to her. Besides, it didn't matter how grim he sounded about this; he was a television star. An actor. He could pull off a convincing lie if he wanted to, almost as well as she could herself.

"**YOU STILL DON'T BELIEVE ME, DO YOU?**"

"I don't see why I should."

"**WELL, HERE COMES YOUR PROOF. NOW IS ABOUT THE TIME FOR HER FINEST HOUR. AT THIS VERY MOMENT, ALPHYS IS WAITING OUTSIDE AS WE SPEAK. DURING OUR LITTLE 'BATTLE,' SHE'LL INTERRUPT. AND SHE'LL PRETEND TO 'DEACTIVATE' ME, 'SAVING' YOU ONE FINAL TIME FROM PERIL. SHE'LL BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR ADVENTURE, AND YOU'LL REGARD HER SO HIGHLY FOR IT...THAT SHE'LL EVEN BE ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU NOT TO LEAVE.**"

She was about to protest, but then, everything went silent. Mettaton cupped one of his gloved hands to an imaginary ear, signaling for Ginger to listen for something. The human did the same, and tried to pick up a noise.

That was when she heard the light clicking sound of claws against the metal floor approaching from outside.

"...No," she dismissed him again. "This...This is just another one of your tricks."

"**FINALLY, YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT SOMETHING.**"

"What do you mean?" she almost growled.

"**I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANITY ITSELF. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. ALL I REALLY WANT, MS. WINGREN, IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, DOESN'T THE AUDIENCE DESERVE A GOOD SHOW? AND WHAT'S A GOOD SHOW...WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?**"

The door that Ginger had entered the room from slammed shut, and a familiar voice came from just outside.

"H-hey! Wh-wh-what's going on!? Th-th-the door just locked itself!"

"No..."

The floor began to glow red.

"**SORRY, FOLKS! THE OLD SHOW'S BEEN CANCELLED! BUT WE'VE GOT A FINALE THAT'LL DRIVE YOU WILD!**"

And just as suddenly as everything else that'd happened, the floor they were on began to rise, just like the drawers from the cooking show.

But on a much greater and more imposing scale.

"**REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! ON THE GRAND FINALE OF MTT-PROGRAMMING...'ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!' YES, HUMAN! I WAS THE ONE WHO REARRANGED THE CORE! I WAS THE ONE WHO HIRED ALL OF THE MERCENARIES TO FIGHT AGAINST YOU! I ADMIT THAT WAS A SHORT-SIGHTED PLAN, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER? KILLING YOU MYSELF! IF ASGORE GETS YOUR SOUL, HE'LL USE IT TO DESTROY HUMANITY. BUT IF I GET AHOLD OF IT? THE SKY'S THE LIMIT, DARLING! NOT ONLY WILL I SAVE HUMANS FROM CERTAIN DOOM, BUT I'LL FINALLY BE THE GREATEST STAR I'VE EVER DREAMED OF BEING! THE BIGGEST STAR AMONG BOTH HUMANS AND MONSTERS!**"

"NOOOOO!"

Ginger's SOUL flashed to yellow again, and she fired at him relentlessly. But the little projectiles did nothing.

"**THAT WORTHLESS PEA-SHOOTER WON'T WORK ON ME, DARLING. DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT ACTING IS!**"

He sent his own attack from above; a series of shootable blocks that, once fired at, dissipated. Ginger managed to carve a path through them, but she was growing hopeless. It was true; Alphys actually had played her for a fool. Why? How could she? Especially after everything they'd been through? Why hadn't she questioned any of this!? Why did she trust her so blindly!? She was hurt. She was betrayed.

She was absolutely seething with rage.

"**OOH, FELLAS! WATCH OUT! OUR DEAR BELOVED HUNTRESS APPEARED A MIGHT TICKED OFF BY THINGS!**"

Mettaton sent down another array of bullets; a column of white bars, each of them sporting a yellow spot to shoot at. Ginger fired at the spots, and the bars moved out of the way. Then came with another row of blocks. There was an odd-looking bullet in the center of them, and she purposefully avoided it, instead shooting her way through the blocks themselves to make it into the clear.

"Do you have any idea what's going to come out of this!?" she scolded him. "Do EITHER of you know!?"

"**OF COURSE I DO! GLITZ! GLAMOUR! SO WHAT IF A COUPLE PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE? THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS, BABY!**"

"I'll give you show business!"

She straightened her gauntlet, not caring how many punches it took just to dent him, but she was getting close and personal with him this time. No holding back.

That was when her phone rang. And there was no doubt to who it'd be.

Ginger answered it, still steaming mad, and the caller opened her mouth first.

"_U-uh, I-I can't see what's going on in there, b-but don't give up, okay!? I happen to-_"

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF ALL THIS!?" the Huntress roared at her.

"_AH! AH! Augh!_" Alphys panicked from the other end. A bit of a whimper followed.

"_J-just listen to me, please!_" she begged. "_I-I built Mettaton! I know his weak point! There's a switch on his back! I-it, um...it's a work in progress, so d-don't judge too hard, but...It won't turn him off, but it'll definitely make him more...uh...v-vulnerable to attack!_"

"How do I know this isn't another ploy!? Why should I trust you!?"

"_Because it sounds like you're in real, actual danger in there, Ginger! J-just please, please, I don't care if you can't forgive me, I just want you to come out of there alive!_"

She was gone as soon as she'd called, too ashamed of herself to say anything else.

Now knowing what she knew, Ginger barely trusted Alphys anymore than she did Metatton himself...But she was running out of options. The switch was on his back, was it?Well, she'd have to be subtle about it in order to get him to turn around for her.

"Hey, dialup face!"

"**SO, WHAT'D THE NOT-SO-GOOD DINOSAUR SAY? SHE GIVE YOU HER FINAL FAREWELL?**" he taunted.

"No," she answered him. "But before you do me in, check yourself in the mirror behind you. You don't wanna look all RUSTY for your grand finale, do you?"

"**OH, HEAVENS, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!**"

He turned around, and lo and behold, there was the very big and obvious switch on his back.

"**HMM...I DON'T SEE IT. WHERE IS IT?**"

He got no answer, but instead, Ginger strode up behind him and flicked the switch on his back to the right.

And the moment she did, he froze.

"...**DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?**" he asked, sounding unnaturally, genuinely surprised.

Before she could confirm, Mettaton started to buzz and whirr, and his rectangular form vibrated with energy building up from the inside.

Good Glaux, he was going to explode, wasn't he!?

Ginger ducked for cover just as soon as a blinding white light filled the room. This was it, wasn't it?

"Oh, no..."

And then she heard it.

"**OHHH YES.**"

* * *

**A.N: "OH, THE MELODRAMA! WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TIME!?**

**WILL THE AMAZING METTATON DEFEAT THE PUNY HUNTRESS ONCE AND FOR ALL?**

**WILL THE ENEMY HUMAN COME OUT ON TOP?**

**AND WHAT ABOUT DR. ALPHYS? AFTER EVERYTHING SHE AND THE HUNTRESS HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER, WILL IT ALL BE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG NOW THAT THE CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG!?**

**OH, THE SUSPENSE IS ABSOLUTELY MADDENING! WELL, DARLINGS, TUNE IN NEXT-"**

_**Mettaton! What are you doing in my Author's Notes!?**_

**"WHAT? OH, HELLO, AUTHOR. YOU WERE TAKING A WHILE TO SHOW UP, SO I WENT AHEAD AND DID THEM FOR YOU!"**

_**You're taking up my space! Get out of here and don't break the fourth wall again, or I'll take a blow torch to you!**_

**"FINE, FINE, YOU WIN. WELL, TOODLES, READERS! MY LEGS AND I WILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME..."**

_**And stop spoiling the next chapter! ***_**Eaugh!***

**..._Finally. I thought he'd never leave._**

**_Well, I guess I don't need to say much, now. I will admit, I didn't think I'd get this done as soon as I did. But I guess I surprised myself, eh?_**

**_Well, tune in next time to see how it all goes down. Later! :D_**


	29. Chapter 27: Dance, Dance, Revelation

Silence. Eerie silence. What was going on?

Ginger slowly stood back up, shielding her face and eyes from the blinding light with the cape of her cloak. What'd just happened?

Finally, the lights dimmed again. She cautiously peeked open an eye, and she beheld a mist that now covered the entire room, obscuring everything.

That was when the spotlights came back on from above, and it shone down through the fog onto the silhouette shrouded within it. In the place of the killer rectangle, there now stood a far more humanoid figure.

"**OHHH MY.**"

Ginger was dumbfounded beyond comprehension; what was going on? Who was this? Where was Mettaton at?

...Was THIS Mettaton?

"**IF YOU FLIPPED MY SWITCH, THAT CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING.**"

Yes. Yes. It was Mettaton. But she remembered his silhouette looking a lot more...square than what she was seeing in the mist.

"**YOU'RE DESPERATE FOR THE PREMIERE OF MY NEW BODY.**"

New body? Was this what Alphys had intended to happen? She had so many questions; it was getting stranger by the second.

"**HOW RUDE...LUCKY FOR YOU, I'VE BEEN ACHING TO SHOW THIS OFF FOR THE LONGEST TIME. SO...AS THANKS, I'LL GRANT YOU A HANDSOME REWARD. I'LL MAKE YOUR LAST LIVING MOMENTS...**"

A gust of air scattered the mist on the stage, and Mettaton came into crystal clear view. And the sight of him was...

"**ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!**"

The Huntress was utterly stupefied by Mettaton's new form; instead of a block on a wheel, she now stared up at a slim, six foot tall, perfectly polished figure that was one-hundred percent certainly made to look like a human.

"...What."

"**ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH GIBGAB! IT'S SHOWTIME,** **BEAUTIES!**"

Stage lights blared, music sounded off, and in seconds, the entire stage transformed into nothing less than a dancefloor. One flashy enough to put any other to shame. And to top it all off, a monitor opened up on the wall behind him, displaying a chart of viewers and ratings, recording the data from across the entire Underground.

"**MAKE THE FIRST MOVE, WHY DON'T YOU? SHOW THE FANS WHAT THEY'RE IN FOR!**"

She knew there were cameras on her, so she decided not to make a fool of herself.

Mettaton watched as she turned her back towards him, then fired the arrow she had ready straight up into the air. She kept her eye on it as it slowed down, reaching its peak, and then the arrow tilted downward, hurtling towards the ground. It was the same trick she'd used to impress the mercenaries in the rest of the CORE...

But with a twist.

She reached out her gauntleted hand, and right when the arrow was about to land, she clenched her fist, and the tip of the projectile hovered only a foot over the ground.

She caught it. And the ratings gradually began to increase.

"**NOT A BAD START, HUMAN...NOW IT'S MY TURN!**"

A series of bullets came down from above, extending over the entire battleground.

...Legs. They were bullets. In the shape of his legs.

_Why?...WHY?_

But it didn't matter what they looked like. A bullet was a bullet and it had to be avoided. Ginger tried firing at them to see if they would dissipate, but instead of doing that... They instead began from the right to the left and back as they descended. At least now she had an opportunity to didge them as they moved out of her way.

But dealing with them was tricky; she only had so much time to get out of their way as they went from side to side, and she ended up being clipped by two of them, being struck right in the face by the pointed tips of them...Not a pleasant sensation.

But she didn't go down so easily.

"**LOOKS LIKE I MANAGED TO SNAG THE EVASIVE HUNTRESS A FEW TIMES, EH, FOLKS? WELL, IF SHE THOUGHT THAT WAS HARD, THEN LET'S SEE HER GET A LOAD OF THIS! LIGHTS! CAMERA! BOMBS!**"

"Bombs?!" she echoed.

Sure enough, from above came the explosive bullets; it looked like she was going to have to fire at them to set them off before they reached her.

Ginger's SOUL was still in Yellow Mode, so with the aid of the phone provided, she could aim projectiles at them from where she stood. This was exactly what she did, quickly moving out of the way of the four-way explosion before her bullet set it off. She did this six times, and then the attack ceased.

"**SO YOU'RE GOOD AT BOMB DODGING,**" the robot acknowledged. "**BUT SURELY YOU CAN DO MORE THAN SLIP PAST ATTACKS AND SHOOT ARROWS, RIGHT?**"

"Try me," she snarled, tightening the gauntlet on her hand.

"**OOOH, YOU'RE COMING INTO CLOSE QUARTERS, ARE YOU? WELL, LET'S SEE HOW WELL YOU CAN LAND A HIT!**"

The Huntress' brow furrowed, and she emitted an aggressive snarl as she dashed at him with a clenched fish. Her punch was blocked by a gloved hand in a split second, and with one swift motion, Mettaton sent her spinning across the floor like a top. She careened across the floor in a U-turn, returning to her opponent, and he didn't hesitate to catch her, spin her around with him and lean her back like she was his dance partner.

"**THAT MUST HAVE BEEN FAIRLY UNEXPECTED, NOW, WASN'T IT?**" he teased.

"Yeah..." she admitted. "...And so is this!"

Mettaton didn't realize his folly until it was too late, and the human sent a her metal-gloved knuckles slamming right into his face. In the less defensive form he'd taken on, her attack actually managed to do some damage, and he lost his grip on her and staggered back. Again, the ratings steadily went up; the audience seemed to be enjoying the high tensions between them.

"**YOU CRUEL CREATURE! IS THAT HOW YOU THANK ME FOR THE DANCE?**"

"That was supposed to be a dance?" she taunted. "I'd say you have two left feet."

"**OH, THE AUDACITY! WELL, IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER, LET'S PUT THAT TO THE TEST!**"

He summoned another weapon from above.

"**IT'S A PANIC AT THE DISCO, PEOPLE! LET'S SEE IF SHE CAN KEEP UP THE PACE!**"

It cast down blue attacks, passing through the human as she stood still, awaiting the snare. When she caught sight of a white attack coming her way, she fired at the disco ball to see if it changed anything; the white laser turned blue, and all of the past blue ones turned white.

"...So that's how it works."

All she had to do was fire as the attacks switched in order to stay safe, and it worked. Finally, they stopped.

"**YOU FIGURE THINGS OUT QUICKLY, I ADMIT. VERY CLEVER...WHY DON'T WE SPEED THINGS UP A BIT?**"

He fired up the same attack from before, but the blue and white beams had now doubled in speed as the passed through her. But she wouldn't let herself be dragged down; she only made a single mistake, having turned the final stream of magic white instead of blue during her rush, and receiving some damage. But since the very end had been her only mistake, it was safe to say that the Huntress had proven her skill with flying colors.

And despite the initial pain of the bullet landing, she managed to fire three good shots at Mettaton from her SOUL right when he'd stopped his attack.

"***_OOF_.***** HA...THAT WASN'T TOO TERRIBLE, YOU KNOW, HUNTRESS? BUT ARE YOU AS GOOD WITH WORDS AS YOU ARE IN WAR?**"

Something rose up from out of the floor in front of the human. It was a keyboard, it looked like, and a monitor appeared on the screen behind her adversary.

"**THIS ONE'S AN ESSAY QUESTION, MS. WINGREN. CONSIDER IT A CALLBACK TO OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER!**"

The question displayed itself on the screen.

'**What do you love most about Mettaton?**'

She scoffed at the idea, and the killer robot caught sight of her sly grin stretching across her face as she tapped away on the keyboard. After several seconds, she stepped away from the panel, and Mettaton curiously turned around to the face the monitor behind him and see what she'd written.

"_He belongs in the Trash Zone with the rest of the scrap metal._"

"**VERY FUNNY, HUMAN. THIS ESSAY IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT ME, NOT YOU!**" he teased, the ratings declining just a bit.

"Last time I checked, I was made of flesh and blood. Where do you think Dr. Alphys found all of the metal to make you, huh?"

"**WHY, THE SAME PLACE A CERTAIN TEMMIE FOUND THE METAL TO MAKE THE ARMOR YOU'RE WEARING RIGHT NOW.**"

"Well...At least mine can take a punch."

"**OOH, STILL JUST AS PAWKY AS EVER, AREN'T YOU, DARLING? I WILL ADMIT, YOUR LITTLE ESSAY REALLY SHOWED EVERYONE YOUR HEART...WHY DON'T I SHOW YOU MINE?**"

The cavity in his middle opened up, and his SOUL was exposed to open attacks. That was his weak point. That was his charisma. His ego.

...His pride.

And the Huntress had every intention on trampling it down into the dirt.

She fired at it, and was quick to discover that his SOUL was not only surprisingly durable, but could launch its OWN series of attacks, sending out a wave of white bolts from every direction. At least they were predictable; all Ginger really had to do was keep her distance until they spread out far enough for her to pass through easily.

But while the bolt bullets were flaring out, Mettaton himself conjured up a few more weapons for variation and sent them down from above; smaller white bullets...made to look like his original, rectangular form. Was he really that conceited that he even had to make his magic projectiles look like himself? They weren't just for show, however; Ginger thought she could dodge them easily, seeing how far they landed from her, but as soon as they got low enough, the mini-Mettatons sent out a secondary array of missiles that'd been aimed right at her! At least they were slow and straight enough to evade easily...But still!

_Heart missiles..._ she frowned. _Oh, because all your fans love you so much, and you're the greatest? What a joke._

When the next two mini-Mettatons descended, she tried firing at them to see if that did anything...And it did! Upon impact, both of the bullets dissipated in a flash!

Well, now that she knew their weakness, she could focus on her actual target.

The human continued to fire at Mettaton's SOUL, not holding anything back, even while she was dodging bolts and shooting miniatures. Finally, his SOUL retreated back into its owner, and she heard a mechanical crash of some sort come from inside her opponent. That noise paired with the pain conveyed by on his face meant that she had to have done something. Maybe she'd damaged him on the inside. Whatever she'd done, it was a good start, she had to admit.

But he shook it off in a hurry, or at least did his best to hide it. Mettaton wasn't going to give up so easily.

"**YOU SEEM PLEASED WITH YOURSELF, DEAR HUNTRESS. HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP THIS UP?**"

"I've barely been hit at all so far!" she boasted. "And I'm willing to bet I can slide right past your next move without a scratch!"

"**OH, I'M JUST WARMING UP! TRY YOUR HAND AT THIS!**"

Ginger straightened herself out and prepared for the next wave of attacks.

The ratings chart sloped upwards as a whole swarm of mini-Mettas came down from above.

Despite the sheer number of them, they came in clusters, and were easy to take out in one swift sweep before they could even get the chance to send their hearts her way.

"**SO YOU DO LIVE UP TO YOUR CLAIMS? WELL, DON'T GET COCKY YET. YOU MAY HAVE LASTED LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED, BUT IF YOU GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH ASGORE, YOU'LL FIND OUT THE HARD WAY THAT YOU MADE A MISTAKE NOT GIVING YOUR SOUL UP TO ME INSTEAD!**"

"Cocky? Speak for yourself for a change, why don't you?"

"**HMMM...GOOD IDEA! I'M SO HOT, IT'LL BLOW YOU AWAY! HEADS UP, DARLING!**"

All he had to do was point up, and the Huntress found herself looking at another array of bombs coming down, and with each one, there was an indestructible white bullet. It was a good thing she already knew how these explosives worked, so she was able to fire at them, then move out of the way quickly enough, and THEN move out of the way of the white bullets. Fortunately, it was a lot easier than it sounded, seeing how fast she already was.

"Ha! Ya really BOMBED that one!"

"**PERHAPS A BREATHER WOULD DO ME GOOD...TIME FOR OUR UNION-REGULATED BREAK! STAY TUNED VIEWERS!**"

The music and flashing lights dimmed down, and the monitor behind him swapped out the ratings chart for a flashing "HAPPY BREAKTIME" announcement as everything got quieter. Mettaton stood still, ceasing the action, and the confused Huntress stared right into his gaze.

"...What are you doing?"

"**DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT A COMMERCIAL BREAK IS? WHAT IF SOMEONE HAS TO USE THE BATHROOM?**"

"Monsters don't use the bathroom, you twit."

"**HA! THAT WAS A TEST! AND IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE AS SMART AS YOU MAKE YOURSELF OUT TO BE! THEN IN THAT CASE...WHAT IF SOMEONE NEEDS A REFILL ON POPCORN? OR HAS TO WALK THEIR PET? OR SELL THEIR SPIDER DONUTS?**"

"Sell their..."

_Wait a second._

That reminded her; how did Muffet describe the person who'd offered her a fortune for the human's SOUL?

"_Six feet. Maybe a few inches over...I swear, he looked like a male model, he was so glamorous. And he was...very strangely humanoid. With his head of black hair, and his broad shoulders...Ah," she sighed. "...I didn't think it fitting on any man beforehand, but he looked surprisingly good in pink._"

"Hmmm..." she hummed mischievously, tapping the tips of her metal-gloved fingers against each other as a sly smirk spread across her face.

"**ALRIGHT! BREAKTIME'S OVER! ON WITH THE SHOW!**"

That was it? It'd barely been a minute long...

_Oh, well,_ she decided. _At least I know what to throw at him now._

But it turned out that insults and humiliating revelations weren't the ONLY things she'd have to be firing.

"**WHY, WE'VE GROWN SO DISTANT SINCE THAT TERRIBLY LONG BREAK,** **DARLING,**" he drawled. "**HOW ABOUT ANOTHER HEART-TO-HEART?**"

His SOUL came out into the open again, with the same bolt attacks as before...But this time the SOUL itself was guarded by a spinning shield of the weaker block bullets that she'd seen in former attacks, which she had to take care of first. At least there were no mini-Mettas this time, so she could concentrate on this more.

Every few seconds, the block shield would disperse, exposing the SOUL, only to return moments later fully repaired. It was a good thing they could be gotten rid of so easily, and more still, the few seconds it took for them to return gave her the opportunity to fire, and she did NOT waste it, shooting her own bullets from her SOUL right to his.

Finally, Ginger heard another mechanical break, but this time, it was far louder.

And THIS time, the damage was much more apparent.

Ginger watched in utter shock as Mettaton's arms were blown clean off his body by the internal explosion!

Now this was something she was taken aback by. She'd seen and heard far worse from the battlefield before, but despite having been practically mutilated, the robot did his all to keep at it like nothing was wrong, striking even more poses for several good, long moments after the damage was dealt before having to stop.

"I didn't think I'd ever say this to the likes of you, but...uh...Should I be concerned by this?"

"**HA...! YOU SHOULD BE VERY CONCERNED! FOR YOURSELF!**" he retorted, trying to hide the pained expression forming on his face again as white smoke started to emit from the empty sockets.

"Your arms freaking blew off!"

"**A...ARMS? WHO NEEDS ARMS...WITH LEGS LIKE THESE!?**" he huffed, striking yet another pose. "**I'M STILL PLENTY STRONG ENOUGH TO DO YOU IN!**"

"We'll see about that..." Ginger answered him, convinced that she was well on her way to yet another victory. With the amount of damage she was seeing, it was unlikely that he would last much longer.

"**YES, WE WILL...! RIGHT NOW!**"

Another series of bombs started their way down. This time, there were four bullets per row, giving the Huntress the option to either shoot a bomb or one of the cubed bullets. Just to play things safe, she took the latter option, which worked out well enough, and it looked like she was in the clear...

That is, until the column came to a halt and began to backtrack upwards again.

"What!?"

She tried to rewind her own path through the bullets, but they came up too fast and too closely, and she ended up hitting a lot more than she expected to.

"**SEE!? WHAT DID I TELL YOU!? I'VE STILL GOT IT! JUST GIVE UP THE SOUL ALREADY!**"

The human hissed out a counter as she held onto her bleeding side. But despite the pain, another smug grin spread across her face, and her eyes narrowed slyly.

"Do you think..." she growled. "...I came unprepared?"

With a smooth, swift motion, she withdrew another trump card; the Starfait.

"**OOH! ARE YOU PROMOTING MY BRAND? THE AUDIENCE MUST BE GOING NUTS RIGHT ABOUT** **NOW!**"

"And for my next trick...I'm gonna make it disappear!"

As quickly as she'd pulled it out, the Huntress popped the lid off and downed the entire thing. The blood running down her side and staining the leather of her armor ceased to flow, and all other wounds faded into nothing as though they'd never been there. The ratings displayed on the monitor began to skyrocket.

That was when Mettaton got over his excitement and realized what'd just happened.

"**HOW DARE YOU USE MY OWN BRAND AGAINST ME!**"

"Well, maybe if I had any SPIDER CIDER, that might not have been the case."

"**I _BEG_ YOUR PARDON?**"

"Don't act like you don't know," she told him. "You're the one who bribed Muffet into taking my SOUL for you! Looks like your little hired assassin plan _was_ a bit short-sighted, eh? It's a shame, too...You could say we had a discussion, and she seemed pretty charmed by you."

"**WELL, GOOD FOR HER! EVERYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN IS!**"

"Too bad she's about to find out the real reason you're doing all of this. Taking my SOUL so you can dessert everyone down here for humanity? Imagine the heartbreak."

He actually seemed to falter with his words for a moment before answering, the smoke pouring from his empty arm sockets turning black.

"**I HAVE...NO REGRETS! THE SHOW...MUST GO ON...!**"

The next attack was a mixed cluster of bombs and cubes, and Ginger shot a pathway through it like it was nothing. Everyone knew the Huntress was cunning and quick, but she was a fairly new face. The sight of her going up against the likes of the Underground's long-running idol in a one-on-one battle to the death, paired with the fact that she was obviously winning? It was the most intense thing anyone beneath Mount Ebott had ever witnessed. Some viewers remained loyal to the original star, and rooted for her destruction. Others cheered her on to victory. The entire Underground was ablaze with the voices of many.

"He's not goin' down yet, bro! Show that human who's boss!"

"Come on, lil' dudette! He's almost down, you got him!"

"This is bonkers! Like, how much longer do you think he can go without his arms, Catty?"

"I dunno, Bratty, but we're gonna find out here soon!"

"Come on, little buddy...Kick that guy till he's down like he did me...!"

"So his heart betrays his face...Hmm...I wonder what robot donuts would taste like...?"

"Oh, boy...Glad sellin' ice cream's safer than showbiz."

"Mom! Dad! That's the human who saved me from falling! Yo, come on, Ging'! You've got arms, throw some more wicked punches!"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO THINK! UNDYNE, WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO WIN?!"

"I don't know and I don't care! I just wanna see them both _KILL EACH OTHER!_"

"SANS! WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL COME OUT OF THIS!?"

"come on, papyrus...we both know she's got this one in the bag."

"...Heheheheh. Enjoy your fame while it lasts...Enjoy your LIFE while it lasts. You idiot."

"**L...LIGHTS! C...CAMERA...ENOUGH OF THIS! DO YOU REALLY WANT HUMANITY TO PERISH!? OR DO YOU JUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF THAT MUCH!?**"

Another stream of bombs came in for the assault; this was a familiar attack, and Ginger breezed right through it.

"I've gotten past everyone else so far," she reminded him. "The king should be no different! Call this off or I'll probably ACTUALLY end up killing you!"

"**HA...! HOW INSPIRING! NOT TODAY, HUMAN! IT'S EITHER YOU OR ME! AND I THINK WE ALREADY KNOW WHO'S GOING TO WIN! BEAUTIES AND GENTLE-BEAUTIES! WITNESS THE TRUE POWER OF HUMANITY'S NEXT GREATEST STAR!**"

One more time, the cavity containing his SOUL let it free. This time, a pair of bombs orbited around it as it fired out the bolts.

_So THAT'S how he wants to play..._

It turned out, this was his longest and most versatile attack yet; she was firing at his SOUL while at the same time making sure not to hit the bombs where they could land their cross-sectioned explosion on her and ALSO avoiding the bolts coming out of it.

But the REAL, LITERAL kicker was when the spot of the battlefields that Ginger was on flashed red, and she could have sworn she saw an exclamation point of warning blink inside of it.

She decided just a moment too late to move out of the way, as another row of those accursed leg bullets formed inside of it and ended up kicking her in the face.

And then the same thing happened on her opposite side, too soon for her to react.

"So that's how it's going down!?" she snarled again, her fury returning with triple its original strength as she regained her fighting composure. "Fine, then! DO YOUR WORST!"

The assault didn't cease; she eliminated the two bombs first, just barely missing the explosions that followed, and then fired at the SOUL like it was a rabid beast that had to be destroyed, carelessly moving about the battleground and getting hit by a good number of the bolts. But she could barely feel any of it through her own anger.

The rage that all Pure Ones were instructed to hold and store for war. She had released hers in a fiery inferno of zealous, untamable wrath.

And all the while, she spewed out a series of insults to accompany it, saying something new every time she landed a hit on him.

"That's for patronizing me!"

"That's for kicking me!"

"That's for trying to blow me up!"

"THAT'S for hiring people to kill me!"

"THAT'S FOR PUTTING ME THROUGH HAGSMIRE ON THIS ALL-HELL TELEVISION MASSACRE!"

Finally she threw the phone down, letting it clatter onto the ground as she charged her adversary like a raging bull.

"**OH** **NO...**"

"AND _THIS IS FOR YOU AND ALPHYS PLAYING ME LIKE A **DAMNED! FOOL!**_"

With her last two outbursts, she landed two of the hardest, angriest blows she ever threw at anyone. The first, a punch to the face...

And the second, an unrelenting kick that landed right in between his legs.

Mettaton tensed, and just as soon as he did, something else went off inside of him...

And then the legs themselves fell away.

The synchronized gasp let out by all of the viewers in the Underground could nearly be heard all the way to the nearest human civilization.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...What was that?"

Nyra looked out to the northeast. She could have sworn she heard something come from there. Like a distant gust of wind blowing a giant tree, or...Something of the sort.

In all reality, it almost sounded like the forest had gasped. As though it had beheld something it had never expected to behold. For a moment, she thought it had just been her imagination getting a bit out of hand...

But the old Sooty Owl that perched beside her heard it too.

"Mount Ebott, my queen," he answered her. "That is where it came from."

"Isn't that the mountain we presume the young General is trapped in? The one inhabited by monsters?"

"Correct."

The white Barn Owl narrowed her eyes at the mist-shrouded mountain off in the distance, the gold ring that surrounded each pupil glowing brighter within the rest of the blue iris. One would swear that an eternal a solar eclipse had settled in each of her eyes. Of course, she had been born on the night of an eclipse, so perhaps that was where it came from.

"...What do you think has happened?" she asked.

"Something big."

"Something terrible?"

"Mmm...I don't think so."

"What makes you rule it out?"

"I get that feeling of odd anticipation, but not one of dread. The gizzard is a complex, but wise thing, as you know. One must learn to trust it more than the head."

"But what if she hasn't a gizzard anymore?"

"...I suppose humans have an alternative."

"Like what?"

"A gut, I believe...Not as strong and sophisticated as the gizzard, but it can get the job done. It's more of an instinctive thing than it is of the soul."

"A soul...My Lord."

"M-hm?"

"This brings up another question I have. Twice since young Ginger has left, I've felt a...strange sensation. Not within the gizzard alone, but it felt like...like the entire world shifted for just a moment. It's hard to explain, but it almost feels like I've forgotten something, and should remember. Like in a sudden burst, several memories faded, never to return...Like they never even happened."

"Hmm...Strange."

"I should say. Do you think it has anything to do with...whatever she's doing?"

"I cannot confirm that," Metal Beak answered her. "I suppose we will find out when she re-emerges."

"IF she re-emerges..." the Ablah General sighed. "...Are you POSITIVE it isn't wise to send a squadron down there looking for her?"

"I have already explained the risks. We can't lose any more owls to magen like that."

Nyra opened her beak, as though to protest, but no noise came out. His expressed concerns of sending a fleet into the mountain of monsters to go after her had been well-said, and she realized she could not argue against it.

"I am as worried for her as you are, love," he acknowledged. "I know she'd become almost like a daughter to you...But we can only wait so much longer on one owl."

"When do you propose we depart for the Kingdoms again?"

"Four more nights, unless I sense anything by then. The Guardians can only do so much in our absence; Stryker knows what he's doing over there. And he especially will not take any risks should they come knocking on our castle walls. Why, he'd be more relentless against them than even I normally am."

"You don't suppose he will try to permanently usurp your position as king, do you?"

"Well, it's like I said; four days. If he knows what's best for him, he shouldn't make a stupid decision like that in such a short timeframe...He shouldn't be able to. The soldiers were instructed to obey his authority...UNLESS he try to steal the throne. There's only one Stryker, and nowadays his 'fans' are dwindling."

"Hmph...I suppose you're right."

"She'll get out of there. Even if it is after we leave, she'll get out of there at some point."

"You don't suppose she's gone mad herself, do you?"

"Her? Mad? With power, no. But with rage...Much more likely. That should help her get along just fine...Granted she doesn't end up doing anything she might regret."

"Well..." Nyra replied. "Let us hope against it."

* * *

_..._

* * *

One would think she'd just run a mile at full speed without stopping at all, the way she was breathing.

Having not bothered to dodge most of the last attack, she looked positively ghastly; fresh blood trickled down her chin, cuts and bruises streaked the rest of her face, her already worn cloak had now lost another small chunk from the corner of the cape, and there was a new flesh wound in the opposite side of the one she'd healed during the fight with the Starfait, staining the leather of her armor and the shirt underneath a dirty crimson color.

But it wasn't so much the damage she'd received that made her look so horrible as it was the look on her face.

Her pupils were barely bigger than the head of a pin, and her blue eyes were still fixed in a venomous glare, but at the same time they were drained and tired, and distressed tears now burned in the corners of them, threatening to spill out. She blinked to try and expel them, then swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked down at her opponent.

Mettaton had been reduced to nothing more than an immobile torso with a head attached.

"**HA...HA...!**" he laughed in spite of himself, looking back at the ratings on the board behind him. They'd now reached well through the roof. "**WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THESE RATINGS! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I'VE EVER HAD! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! WE'VE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! WHICH MEANS ONE LUCKY CALLER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER! WELL, DON'T WAIT UP, VIEWERS! LET'S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST!**"

A phone speaker appeared beside the monitor, and the lucky first caller dialed in.

"**HI! YOU'RE ON T.V.! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW?**"

And the caller spoke.

"_...oh...hi...mettaton. i...really liked watching your show..._"

Ginger didn't know it right then and there, but it turned out that BOTH of them knew exactly who that was.

_...Napstablook?_ she silently acknowledged.

"_my life is pretty boring...but...seeing you on the screen...it...well...it brought a lot of...excitement to my life...vicariously, i mean. um...i can't tell, but...i guess this is the last episode...? well...i'll miss you...mettaton..._"

Ginger saw that Mettaton's usual stuck-up grin had unexpectedly faded into nothingness. In fact, he almost appeared ready to shed tears himself.

It was...strange seeing him like this. It didn't seem natural for the snobbish celebrity to suddenly look so...humble.

_Do I feel sorry for him?_ she pondered for a moment, but she immediately dismissed the possibility. _No...I don't. I would never. Not after all that._

"_...oh...i didn't mean to talk so long...i'm sorry..._"

"**NO, WAIT. WAIT JUST A SECOND,** **BL...**"

He was a moment too late.

"**H...HE ALREADY HUNG UP...AH...W-WELL, I'LL JUST...TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!**"

And in they all came.

"_Mettaton, your show made us so happy!_"

"_Man, Mettaton, I don't know what I'll watch without you._"

"_Mettaton, there's a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart._"

"_Yo...Are you seriously leaving?_"

"**...AH...I SEE...**"

Ginger looked down at him, now convinced that she, for some reason, actually felt the tiniest shard of sympathy for him.

He smiled, moved by the kind words of his loyal viewers.

"**...EVERYONE...THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH ANY OF THIS MEANS TO ME...**"

So, he was finally starting to see past his own nose? It was about time.

...But at least it was happening.

"**...DEAR HUNTRESS,**" he addressed. "**I UNDERSTAND IF YOU'RE...NOT THE GREATEST FAN OF ME, BUT WOULD YOU STOOP DOWN TO MEET ME AT EYE LEVEL? JUST FOR A MOMENT? IT'S...A MIGHT IMPORTANT.**"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow, but decided to comply anyway.

"**HEARING ALL OF THIS FOR MYSELF, I REALIZE THAT PERHAPS IT'D BE BEST FOR ME TO...YOU KNOW...STAY HERE FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. I MEAN... OF COURSE I'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE HUMANS OUT THERE THNK OF ME SOMEDAY, BUT...THEY ALREADY HAVE COUNTLESS STARS AND IDOLS. DOWN HERE, MONSTERS...ONLY HAVE ME. IF I LEFT, THE UNDERGROUND WOULD LOSE ITS SPARK...AND IN ITS PLACE, I WOULD LEAVE AN ACHING VOID THAT COULD NEVER BE FILLED...SO I THINK IT'S FOR THE BEST THAT I DELAY MY BIG DEBUT.**"

"...Hmm."

Maybe there was a twinge of a good person buried in there, after all.

"**AND ANOTHER THING, MS. WINGREN. I'D LIKE TO...APOLOGIZE. FOR THE ORDEAL WE...ERM..._I_ PUT YOU THROUGH. WHEN YOU FIRST CAME TO RIVAL ME, I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST...WELL...SHOWBOATING TO ENTERTAIN, AS I SO OFTEN DO. BUT IN REALITY, YOU'VE PROVEN TO BE VERY STRONG...PERHAPS EVEN STRONG ENOUGH TO FIND A WAY PAST ASGORE. HAVING SEEN IT ALL FOR MYSELF, I'M SURE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DEFEND HUMANITY.**"

Something inside of him made a clanging noise again, and what little was left of the energy in his eyes began to drain.

"Oh, no..." she breathed, realizing quickly how bad off he seemed. Had she really...?

"**HA...I...I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING,**" he told her. "**SEE, THIS FORM'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS...WELL...INEFFICIENT, TO SAY THE LEAST. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I'LL RUN OUT OF BATTERY POWER, AND...WELL...IT'S A FEW LOST LIMBS. I DON'T HAVE ANY BLOOD TO LOSE LIKE YOU DO. IN GOOD TIME, I'LL BE ALRIGHT. DR. ALPHYS WILL FIX ME UP JUST FINE.**"

"...What about what you said about-"

"**OH, PAY NO MIND TO ANYTHING I SAID. ABOUT YOU OR DEAR DR. ALPHYS. NONE OF IT. I WAS JUST PUTTING ON A SHOW. AND...I APOLOGIZE FOR ALL OF THAT, TOO, IF IT...HURT ANYONE IN ANY WAY...COULD YOU FIND IT ANYWHERE WITHIN YOURSELF TO FORGIVE ME?**"

Now, this was DEFINITELY something she hadn't expected. Mettaton, one of, if not the biggest high-hat she'd probably ever met, the one with all the fame and all the fortune, now sat at her MERCY, asking for her forgiveness. Ginger had very mixed feelings about this, and she might have put him down had she not been one hundred percent sure that he was being completely sincere in his words this time.

But she was.

And wouldn't declining his apology make HER the snobbish one?

"Well..." The Huntress let slip a grin, and she removed her hood to reveal her face. "...It'd be pretty stupid of me not to, wouldn't it?"

"**HA...THANK YOU. YOU ARE INDEED A WORTHY OPPONENT...NOW GET OUT THERE AND KNOCK 'EM DEAD, DARLING. AND TO EVERYONE WATCHING THIS FROM HOME...I THANK YOU AS WELL. YOU'RE ALL A GREAT AUDIENCE!**"

The lights began to flash a blinding white again, and Ginger shielded her eyes to protect them. All the while, she felt the raised stage that'd served as their battlefield begin to descend from its great height, getting lower, and lower, and lower until...

It stopped once it met the ground again, right where it'd started from. The blaring stage lights had turned off, the music had stopped, and the monitor and phone speaker had both disappeared. The only trace left that there'd even been a battle were the two figures standing in the now dark, calmly quiet room.

The Huntress stared down at the somewhat depressing image before her; Mettaton sat there, limbless and motionless, without any signs of awareness at all about him. But the soft, mechanical whirr coming from somewhere within him, paired with his SOUL still hovering inside its cavity signaled vitalism. He wasn't dead. Out of power, but not dead. He would just have to be repaired, recharged, and then he'd be back on his own two legs again...

...His smooth, slim, almost grossly seductive legs.

At least she wouldn't have to be around to see that again.

Ginger heard a noise come from outside the closed door behind her; it was the metal hissing sound of a heavy lock opening, then the whooshing of the door opening...

And right when it opened, in stumbled a very sweaty, shaky, but also smiling Dr. Alphys.

"I...I managed to hack into the lock and deactivate it!" she announced, nearly tripping over her own feet as she approached. "Are you two oka-"

She stopped short at the sight before her; Ginger was towering above the dented, limbless, motionless form of Mettaton.

"...Oh my God...!"

"Alphys. I think he just-"

"METTATON!"

She scrambled over to him to asses the damage.

"Mettaton, are you...A-are you..."

Her already heavy breathing got worse, and her brown eyes glossed over with tears again. She scanned him up and down, but she only found a couple of bad dents where Ginger had landed her two final blows, some internal wiring that needed to be replaced, an almost completely drained battery and, of course, the empty sockets that simply had to have the limbs reattached.

It was nothing lethal.

"Oh, thank GOD, it's just the batteries," she heaved, placing a hand over her chest in a vain attempt to slow her rapid heartbeat. "I-if you were gone I'd...I would've..."

Ginger cleared her throat, and Alphys slowly turned her head to look in her direction.

"Heh...I-I mean, hey, it's n-no problem, y-you know?" she assured her. "H-he's just a robot. I-if it got messed up s-somehow, I could always...j-just build another, right?"

The Huntress came up to her from behind.

"So...He WILL be alright?" she asked, just to confirm.

"Yeah! H-he'll be fine! Y-you didn't do too much, you were just...You were just d-defending y-yourself! I...I'll just take him back to the lab and fix him up a little bit. S-see his SOUL still in there? Yeah, he's okay, see? He'll be fine..."

Her breathing was finally slowing down some, but she was still extremely shaken by what she'd just witnessed.

"...Wh-why don't you g-go on ahead of me? I-I'll catch up," she squeaked out.

"You okay?"

"Yeah..." she squeaked again, her speech almost coming out a whimper. "I just...need a moment. I'll be right there."

"I'll wait for ya."

Alphys received a small pat on the head as the human passed her by and departed for the next room. The Royal Scientist noted the small wounds on her face and the tears in the dark teal fabric of her cloak that hadn't been there the last time she saw her on any video feed. Mettaton really HAD tried to right out kill her.

And she hadn't done anything to stop it for real.

In fact, she realized that she was the one responsible for it in the first place.

They were all threatening to break down the dam behind her eyes, but she only allowed one tear to slip. She couldn't let the human see her in that state again.

The monster hiccupped, then wiped her face dry before giving her greatest achievement a pat on the shoulder and leaving him to rest in the calm room for the time being.

* * *

_..._

* * *

Ginger had turned the corner to the right and stood just beyond it, waiting patiently for Alphys to show up. It didn't take her very long to catch back up to her; shorter than she'd anticipated, really. Much shorter, in fact.

"Ready to get a move on?" she asked, motioning to the path ahead.

"Y-yeah! S-sorry about that, I, uh, got a little c-caught up i-in things, is all. Um...Let's keep going!"

She followed Ginger's brisk gait, almost going into a jog; her squat little legs had some difficulty keeping up with her.

"S-so...W-we're about to g-go met Asgore here p-pretty soon, huh?" she commented. "You must...b-be pretty excited about all that, huh?"

"Sort of...Maybe sorta nervous...But, hey. Almost everyone down here's wanted to kill me at some point, and I could convince everyone else to change their minds in one way or another. Why should Asgore be any different?"

"Heh heh...Y-yeah...A-and when you do that, you'll finally...g-get to go home!"

"M-hm..."

Suddenly, the human began to slow down. Alphys stopped behind her as she came to a halt not too much farther from the elevator.

"Uh...Is...S-something wrong?" she asked, but she had a feeling she knew what the answer was already.

"...Can I ask you something, Alphys?"

_Oh no..._

"Um...S-sure."

Ginger sighed.

"...Look," she began, though not sounding particularly angry. "He admitted it himself back there that a lot of what he said was just to tick me off...But he sounded so serious about it before we started the fight. And then you didn't even defend yourself over the phone...I wanna hear your side of the story, Alphys. Were you two really playing me like a fiddle through most of Hotland? Did you actually set all of this up so I would think you were too good for me to leave behind? Is that all true?"

The Huntress was not answered straight away. When she turned around to face the Royal Scientist, she found her hanging her head in shame.

"P...Partly," she confessed. "I-I started having everything set up while you were still in Snowdin. A-and yes, I...I did plan for M-Mettaton to, uh...g-go after you in some cases and...d-do the stuff he did. Th-that was planned pretty far ahead...But...I started having second thoughts a-about the whole thing. S-so I went to the dump a few times t-to think things through a little more...Th-there were a lot of other things going on, too, though, so I started thinking about...Y-you know...And that's when, um...That's when we bumped into each other. L-literally."

She almost managed a bit of a giggle.

"S-so, anyway, wh-when you actually showed up at the lab, I...I didn't expect that we might have a-already known each other. S-so, when I found that out, I...I-I was about to call everything off r-right then and there. T-tell you everything and g-get it over with."

"So, then...Why didn't you?"

"I...I couldn't do it. I-I knew you'd hate me i-if you found out what I'd been planning to do, a-and I'd only just m-met you to the face. I-I thought that m-maybe we could be  
...friends. And if you knew, then I wouldn't...You wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me."

"Alphys, I doubt I'd have flat out-"

"And while we were talking in Hotland, I...I thought that maybe I could stop everything if I c-convinced you that you could...s-stay with us, under here? A-and then we could go talk to K-king Asgore after y-you decided you wanted to stay j-just so he knew you were h-here, and t-tell him th-that everyone loved you and that..."

She stifled another sob, and practically squished her eyes into her head in attempt to keep from becoming an emotional mess all over again.

"But you remember what I said, right?" Ginger reminded her, cautiously reaching a hand out towards her to offer some reassurance. "About me just passing through, then coming back with a way to-"

"That's just it!"

Dr. Alphys' loud and sudden outburst surprised both of them. The monster's gaze widened for a moment, but then crinkled up into a distraught grimace again.

"I...I lied about that, too!" she admitted. "J-just your human SOUL isn't going to be enough to cross the Barrier."

"Doesn't it take a strong SOUL? I'm pretty sure mine is strong enough to-"

"N-no...It takes at least a human SOUL...And a monster SOUL."

"...What?"

"This is why I didn't want you to leave," she told her, furiously wiping away at her eyes. "If you want to go back to the surface, you're going to have to take Asgore's SOUL, you're going to have to kill him to get back there!"

She was mortified.

"Alphys, why didn't you tell me this...!?"

"I don't know why, I'm stupid, I can't do anything right!"

She turned away from the human and hid her face away in her clawed hands, too ashamed of herself to face her anymore.

"Al', wait just a moment," the human continued, her arm still outstretched in case the monster needed it. "Maybe there's still a way we can-"

"No, there's not. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this, I'm sorry I let it get this far, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Wait, where are you going!?"

Alphys didn't answer. Instead she fled the scene and disappeared back around the corner, bawling her eyes out all the while.

"ALPHYS!"

Ginger went after her, but when she turned left again, Alphys had already disappeared.

And so had Mettaton.

And this time, neither of them were coming back for her.

"...So, what? That's it?" she spat. "After everything we've been through, and after everything I've been _put_ through, you're just going to leave me when I needed you most? You're...just gonna leave me in the dust? Just because you think you're not good enough? Is that what I get?"

She felt extremely betrayed, and as though she'd never cared in the first place, the human flicked her cloak off to the side and turned her nose up in the direction the Royal Scientist had run in before heading back to the elevator the rest of the way alone.

She almost smashed the elevator button, she was so angry, now. And when the doors slid open, she stormed into it in a huff.

"Don't you forget this, Alphys!" she called out, just in case she could still hear her from somewhere. "I'm going to King Asgore alone, without your help and without anything to prove my word! And if something happens, then..."

The doors began to shut.

"Then it's YOUR FAULT! _TRAITOR!_"

They closed right when she said it, and Ginger landed a gloved fist against the elevator wall, shaking the entire system and leaving a good-sized dent in the metal. It made her hand sting badly, but it was nothing compared to the growing turmoil on the inside.

As the elevator slowly rose up to New Home, Ginger's legs caved in beneath her, the clenched fist sliding down the wall with the rest of her form until she fell all the way to her knees. And when she did, the once proud and noble Huntress wrapped her cloak around herself, collapsed forward onto the elevator floor, and wept.


	30. Chapter 28: Undertale

She wasn't sure how long it'd been since the elevator had stopped.

After what felt like hours, the human finally stood back up and rubbed away at the tear marks streaming down her face. She was going out there now, and she didn't want anyone to see her in that pathetic state, so she needed a moment to recollect what little dignity she had left.

Finally, Ginger eased her breathing, brushed some of the dirt from her cloak and straightened out the hood before securing it over her head. Snowdrake's feather still adorned the top of it, and while it, too, had some wear, it was still intact. And she was thankful for that, seeing it as sort of a memoir of her travels.

With the way things were going now, she might never get the chance to thank him to his face.

Her head hung and her spirits low, Ginger stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. The bricks in the walls were a soft grey, as was the cobblestone floor she now stood on. There was a glimmering Save Point on the path just in the corner, and the human almost absentmindedly approached it, doing the same thing she did whenever she saw one of them.

***Castle Elevator**

***File Saved**

She sighed deeply, then turned the corner of the path due north.

And when she turned yet again, she was met with the sight of the city of New Home from the overstretched walkway that she now followed. The human stole a glance at the vast underground cityscape as she went across the railed bridge; the buildings were plentiful, but all of them were grey, and the architecture was very dated. Nonetheless, a city was a city, and despite its lack of color, it was actually the most noble-looking city she'd ever laid eyes upon.

But she couldn't stop and enjoy the view, and she didn't bother leaning over the balcony to get a look at any monsters that might be bustling below. All she did was keep walking, her eyes trying to keep themselves on the path ahead, and ONLY the path ahead.

The path turned north again, and got narrower. Ginger stayed in the middle of the path, passing large towers as she went. She'd almost forgotten that the entire city of New Home was actually just one big castle; a castle that its king was kind enough to share with his citizens as a place to call home.

Or in this case, their New Home.

The narrow path broadened greatly up ahead, and she passed into the next room.

And she could hardly believe what she saw.

Ginger removed her shadowy hood and blinked at the sight, almost certain that her eyes were playing tricks on her. But they weren't. Just beyond the old pile of grey leaves before her, there say what looked exactly like...

Toriel's house. From the Ruins.

But it was a soft grey, like the rest of New Home, and not that striking shade of royal violet. And where there should have been a maple tree, there was instead a lonely pile of dead leaves that'd long since turned grey to as though match the rest of the atmosphere, as well as two other piles that sat just along the bottoms of the house's walls.

Just outside the door, there was yet another Save Point, and this time, Ginger was a bit more aware of it.

***New Home**

***File Saved**

She almost felt bad entering the house. Would she find Asgore in here somewhere? Wouldn't it be rude of her to just barge in unannounced? And when the king discovered that his unwelcome guest was a human, of all things! How would he react? Would he kill her on the spot, or at least try to? Was he really the wonderful person that all of his people said he was?

_I'm about to find out..._

Quietly and slowly, she entered through the front door. The human shook her head in denial when she scanned over the layout of the house; it was exactly like the one in the Ruins on the INSIDE, as well, the only difference being the chain blocking off the stairs to the basement, which was secured by two padlocks. A piece of paper was attached to the chain, and Ginger read the glittering gold ink scrawled out onto it.

"_Howdy! I'm in the garden._

_If you have anything you  
need to get off your chest,  
please don't hesitate to come._

_The keys are in the kitchen  
and the hallway._"

Ginger nodded at the note, almost as though its writer had spoken to her directly, and made her way through the hallway to the right of the stairs.

She was first met with another door, a pot of Golden Flowers growing next to it. She wasn't sure if the key would be in there, but it wouldn't hurt to just look...hopefully.

She entered inside, and beheld a children's bedroom. Now she saw some more noteable differences from the bedroom in Toriel's home; instead of just one, there were two beds, one on each side of the room, opposite from each other, and the rest of the furniture was arranged a bit differently. But what really stuck out like a sore thumb were the two gift boxes sitting in front of each of the bed, each of them wrapped with red ribbons. But there was a thick layer of dust atop them, as well as everything else in the room. None of these things had been disturbed in the longest time, even longer, it seemed, than the old things in the room in Toriel's home.

Nobody was going to be coming for them, so her curiosity got the best of her, and she opened each box to see what they held. Maybe one of them held a key? But this wasn't the hallway, this was a room ALONG the hallway. However, that didn't stop her from opening them anyway.

The first one, in front of the bed to the right of the room, held a small, gold locket in the shape of a heart. Something about it intrigued her, and she carefully extracted it from the box, holding it by the heart-shaped charm at its end.

The moment she picked it up, she paused.

It was very strange, but...she could have sworn the object in her hand...moved somehow.

Ginger opened her hand to inspect it; the gold heart almost felt like it was beating, like the very thing it was shaped after. Upon taking an even closer look, it turned out to have words engraved on the surface of the soft metal.

"_Best Friends Forever_"

There was something important about this little trinket. Maybe it once belonged to one of the king's children, and they'd forgotten it. She decided to take it with her, tucking it into one of the smaller pockets of her messenger bag. She wouldn't wear it; it didn't belong to her.

The second box contained something a bit more useful-looking: an old, worn dagger. The blade was somewhat dull, and the faintest grassy aroma rose up from it. It seemed as though the knife had been used more for gardening and the like instead of battle. Really, it was more suited for the former. It was perfect for cutting plants and vines.

...But if used right, it could still be an efficient weapon.

The human hoped she wouldn't have to use it, but she stowed it away for easy access, just in case.

She exited the room, and turned to go down the rest of the hall. This time, she spied the key the king had written about, sitting on one of the side tables, and she passed the room that was undergoing renovations to get to it...

Then, all of a sudden, she heard low voices. She couldn't tell where they came from, but she heard them.

"**_A long time ago, a human fell into the Ruins._**"

"**_Injured by its fall, the human called out for_**_ **help.**_"

They almost sounded like the low, croaking voices of...Froggits?

She looked around; there were no Froggits in sight, nor any other monsters. Nobody there except for herself. Not sure what to make of it, she brushed it off, grabbing the key off of the side table and slipping it onto her phone's keychain for the time being. There was one more room in the hallway that she hadn't explored yet; the one on the end of the hall. She peeked inside, and cautiously looked around it.

This was Asgore's bedroom. It had to be. There was his huge bed; either the king was absolutely enormous, or there was also a queen she hadn't heard of that shared it with him. But judging by the single pillow that sat at its head, she decided the latter not to be true.

The king's journal sat open at his desk, and Ginger peered over her shoulder as she turned to leave to take a quick look at the page it was open to.

"_Nice day today!_"

The gold ink it was written in still looked fairly fresh; it couldn't have been any more than half an hour since it'd been written.

But she'd done enough snooping around the king's bedroom. She exited through the door again, looking over at the mirror beside it on the hallway's very end.

Ginger beheld the sight of a sad, broken creature who hid her sorrow beneath an imposing cloak and battle-hardened ruse. But behind her grim appearance cowered a little lost owlet that wanted nothing more than for everything to just go back to normal. Her cheeks were still tinged red from her crying earlier. She didn't deny it this time, but it still irked her, with how emotional she'd let herself get, and she pulled the hood more tightly over her head until she was satisfied with how obscured it was by the shadows.

She started back the way she came up the hall, and another set of voices sounded when she neared the end of it.

"**_Asriel, the king's son, heard the human's _**_**call.**_"

"_**He brought the human back to the castle.**_"

The voices of the Whimsun echoed in her brain. Asriel...But she'd never met any Asriel character. The human they spoke of couldn't have been her. What was going on? Where were all of these monsters' voices coming from? And what were they talking about?

She passed the front door again and went into the living-dining room area, passing by a familiar-looking set of table and chairs, a bookshelf, and a large, comfortable reading chair, just like the one Toriel had in her own house. It didn't look like it'd been used lately, however; the cushions were all still plump, although there was little dust on it. At least the king kept it in decent condition.

When she passed the chair, just about to go into the kitchen, the voices rang out again.

"**_Over time, Asriel and the human became like siblings._**"

"_**The King and Queen treated the human child as their own.**_"

"**_The Underground was full of hope._**"

That was when she realized what was going on. How it was happening, WHO was behind it, she didn't know, but she knew what this was.

...It was a story.

The tale of the Underground. The king, the queen, the prince and the human, all living happily.

She entered into the kitchen; the key was in plain sight, sitting right there on the counter beside the sink. She took it and put it on the keychain beside the first one, turning away to leave...And then she noticed all of the crumpled up pieces of paper in the small waste basket across from the stove.

She took one of them out and read it, her curiosity piqued. It was a recipe for...

Butterscotch pie.

_Wait. But...How did he...Does he know...?_

She kept walking to the padlocks blocking the stairs, but her mind was ablaze. Were King Asgore and Toriel acquainted with each other somehow? Pondering this, she figured it would explain how similar things looked between here and...

Wait.

What was the prince's name?

Asriel. The king's son...The king who was terrible at naming things.

**_As-_**_gore...__To-_**_riel_**_..._**_As-riel_**_...!?_

The pieces snapped together in an instant.

"Holy racdrops..." she breathed. If her theory was correct, then it made so much sense now.

Toriel was the queen. And she and Asgore were married. And they had a son together, who brought a human back to live with them!

"But then..."

She unlocked the chain, still pondering everything she'd experienced. What was Toriel doing in the Ruins? What about Asgore's policy on humans? Wouldn't he have had the human his son brought back put down in order to collect its SOUL to break the Barrier?

And to top it all off, where was Asriel during all of this? And why hadn't she heard anything about him until now, from the strange voices that told the tale of the Underground as she traversed the King's castle?

She wasn't expecting answers to her questions, but when she went into the basement, she got them. She'd thought the story had ended, but she hadn't been more wrong.

"**_Then...One day..._**"

"**_The human became very ill._**"

They continued as she walked down the dimly lit corridor, leading to a corner up ahead.

"**_The sick human had only one request._**"

"**_To see the flowers from her village._**"

"**_But there was nothing we could do._**"

_Because of the Barrier..._ she acknowledged.

"...So what became of the human?"

And as though to answer her directly...

"**_The next day..._**"

"_**...**_"

"_**...the human died.**_"

With the way the story was going, she figured she should have expected it.

"_**Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's SOUL.**_"

"_**He transformed into a being with incredible power.**_"

So the two siblings stayed together after all...And with the two SOULs combined, did that mean Asriel could...

"**_With the human SOUL, Asriel crossed through the Barrier._**"

"**_He carried the human's body into the sunset..._**"

"_**...Back to the village of the humans.**_"

The path actually turned TWO corners up ahead, going north just a bit, and THEN turning east again just a few yards later.

"**_Asriel reached the center of the village._**"

"**_There, he found a bed of Golden Flowers._**"

"_**He carried the human onto it.**_"

Another bridge path lay ahead, and she could see more of New Home from below.

So...the human's final request WAS granted, after all. And it was all thanks to the prince...But what became of Asriel?

"**_Suddenly, screams rang out._**"

"_**The villagers saw Asriel holding the human's body.**_"

"**_They thought that he had killed the child._**"

Oh...

Oh, no...

That didn't sound good.

"**_The humans attacked him with everything they had._**"

"**_He was struck with blow after blow._**"

"_**Asriel had the power to destroy them all.**_"

So, he fought them off, emerged victorious and was able to return home, right?

"_**But...**_"

"_**Asriel did not fight back.**_"

"_**Clutching the human...**_"

"_**Asriel smiled, and walked away.**_"

What? Nothing? He did NOTHING to retaliate? He just turned and walked off after the ruthless assault, giving them all nothing but his...

...His **MERCY.**

A hand rose to her mouth in shock, but on she went. She HAD to know what happened next.

"_**Wounded, Asriel stumbled home.**_"

_No..._

"**_He entered the castle and collapsed._**"

_Please, please, no, don't say it..._

"_**His dust spread across the garden.**_"

She stopped dead in her tracks, her fears having seen through.

...Asriel died. The very same day as the human.

"**_The kingdom fell into despair._**"

"**_The king and queen had lost two children in one_**_ **night.**_"

"_**The humans had once again taken everything from us.**_"

Why?

Why did it have to be them? What did this do to the kingdom?

"_**The king decided it was time to end our suffering.**_"

"**_Every human who falls down here must die._**"

"_**With enough SOULs, we can shatter the Barrier forever.**_"

...So that was what set it off.

That was what resulted in the proclamation of war against humanity.

...But she understood their grief. The humans had hurt them, imprisoned them, trapped them, and then they killed their heir to the throne.

Let them die.

Let them suffer as Asgore's hands.

They all deserved it.

...

...But what about herself?

She had not been born into this earth as a human, but how was she to tell anyone this? And...what if it wasn't enough? What if Asgore's plan to destroy mankind only ended with the rest of monsterkind being destroyed?

And what would it mean for the world as a whole? For a few hundred monsters to take on the tasks of billions and billions of humans? Havoc would ensue.

"**_It's not long now._**"

"**_King Asgore will let us go._**"

"**_King Asgore will give us hope._**"

"**_King Asgore will save us all._**"

If only he didn't have to destroy them all...

...But isn't that why she was still going forth? To change his mind? To find another way?

"**_You should be smiling, too._**"

"_**Aren't you excited?**_"

"_**Aren't you happy?**_"

The end was just up ahead.

And the final voice she heard was one of a Froggit's.

The same Froggit she fought in the Ruins. The very first monster she'd ever battled against.

"..._**You're going to be free.**_"

...

And free them all, she would.

...But not before she found a way out.

The Huntress turned south, and the sight she beheld was magnificent.

This hallway was not washed in a dull grey, but a striking gold. Tall pillars lined the corridor, and through the giant, stained glass windows emblazoned with the Deltarune, sunlight shone down from outside of the Barrier, giving the hall an almost heavenly golden glow.

And to match the color scheme, a shimmering, gold Save Point sat right before the entrance.

***Last Corridor**

***File Saved**

As she walked down the final corridor, she marveled at the spectacular architecture in the hall compared to the rest of New Home. The beautiful golden interior paired with the sunlight shining in through the Barrier above was absolutely amazing.

She was so drawn in by the beauty of the hallway, she didn't see the dark figure step out from behind one of the pillars...

Until she looked ahead again.

Her heart stopped when she saw the silhouette, and she jumped. It stood no further than a few yards away from her.

A bell tolled, and the sunlight above was blocked over by a great cloud, obscuring the ominous figure even more.

"**...So you finally made it,**" it acknowledged, his voice too quiet to recognize. "**The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the king. And together...You will determine the future of this world. That's then...But right now...You will be judged.**"

"...Judged?"

"**You will be judged for your every action,**" he explained. "**You will be judged for every EXP you've earned.**"

"'EXP?'"

"**It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points.' A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases.**"

She looked down at her hands, stained with the blood of surface creatures. Did this Judge person know of the many scores of enemies she'd killed up there?

"**When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases,**" he continued. "**LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for 'Level Of Violence Enacted.' A way of measuring a person's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you can distance yourself, the less you will hurt...And the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others...Now...Observe.**"

The figure raised a thin-fingered hand, and snapped.

And the moment he did, a display was written out right before Ginger's eyes, conveyed in white magic.

"What's this?" she questioned.

"**Those are your stats,**" the Judge explained. "**...Take a look.**"

So Ginger read over the text the white magic wrote out in front of her.

"_GINGER WINGREN_

_LV: 5_

_EXP: 43_

_HP: 37/40_

_ATK: 18_

_DEF: 10_

_ATTRIBUTE: FORTITUDE_"

"**So...You see now just what you're capable of...You've cut the lives of many short. And in doing so, your hit points, attack and defense increase, and the harder it becomes to keep you from getting stronger...which makes you an even greater threat. And your SOUL reflects this, as well...It is a combination of the two most unrelenting traits a SOUL can take on; BRAVERY and DETERMINATION****...But you have more DETERMINATION than anything else...After all, BRAVERY itself is a combination of JUSTICE and DETERMINATION. The BRAVERY to confront an enemy, and the DETERMINATION to get the job done...It's one of the most potentially dangerous SOUL types I've seen. For the time being, this hybrid trait will be called FORTITUDE.**"

"I..." she stammered. "I-I didn't kill anyone under here, I swear. It all happened on the surface."

"...i know."

"Wait..."

The cloud blocking out the sun rolled away, and the figure stepped further into the light cast by one of the windows, revealing himself.

"...Sans?!"

"betcha weren't expectin' this, huh?"

"How did..."

Her stats flashed away with a wave of his arm.

"don't try to process it too hard, kid. it'll give you a headache."

"...You know," she echoed. "So you know I haven't killed any monsters under here so far?"

"that's right...remember our little discussion at the resort?"

"...Yeah?"

"that LOVE...that's why if that lady hadn't said anything, i'd have done you in a long time ago. you came down here with that. and with someone who did all those things to other humans, i could've only imagined what might've happened to us...tell me. what exactly were you doin' up there?"

"I...Well..." she tried to explain. "I'm...a soldier, to say the least. It's my job to kill enemies, and...exterminate threats. Especially on the front lines."

"...hm...wouldn't have guessed, from someone as young as you."

"Where I'm from, if you can wield a blade, you're in the brigade. I lead my own mini-squadron of fighters, and I'm the youngest among them."

Sans was silent for a moment, analyzing the look on the human's face through the cloak hiding most of it from view.

...She was telling the truth.

"...that's what i find kinda odd."

"What?"

"since you've been down here, you haven't gained anymore LOVE that what you started with," he explained. "no matter the struggle, no matter the hardships you faced...you always strove to do the right thing. and because you did, you kept learning more and more about this place, and getting to know everyone. so...instead of gaining LOVE...you gained love. does that make sense?"

"...Huh..." she pondered. "...Yeah. It does make sense."

"proud of ya, kid...although, i have to admit...something about you always struck me as sort of odd. and i'm talking besides the whole warrior thing."

"What's that?"

"i dunno. it could just be the little things I've picked up, but there's somethin' different about you...despite having the power to do such great harm, you harnessed your urge to fight...productively, even. and you even seemed to know what might happen if you didn't keep that power in check. it's almost like you've seen it all before."

"...I might as well tell you something."

"what's up?"

"Something...happened when I was coming this way, Sans. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I...I had a revelation, sort of."

"what'd it reveal?"

"...Everything," she answered.

"everything?"

"About what happened...to...to the monarchy."

"...oh."

"Yeah."

"...well...now you have something you can use in case you need it, right?"

"Um...I guess that could work."

"speaking of the monarchy...it's time, ginger. you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world... if you refuse to fight, asgore will take your SOUL and destroy humanity...but if you kill asgore and go home, monsters will remain trapped underground."

"I...Don't get your hopes up too high, but...I might just be able to convince him to call it off."

"...what'll you do if you can't?"

She was silent.

"...well, if i were you, i'd have thrown in the towel a long time ago. but you didn't get this far by just giving up, did you? you've got DETERMINATION, kid. so as long as you hold on...as long as you do what's deep down in your heart...i really do believe you can do the right thing...no matter what path you choose."

She smiled at his sentiment.

"...alright. we're all countin' on ya, kid," he told her, motioning for her to venture forth. "...good luck."

She passed by him, giving him one more firm handshake before keeping toward the end of the Judgement Hall.

"...see you on the surface."

She turned to bid him farewell one more time...

But he was already gone.

Sans...He was REALLY something of a mystery, wasn't he?

Deciding not to put it off any longer than need be, the Huntress continued down the golden hallway and reached the end of it. The path turned north, and the underwhelming grey made itself present along the pathway again...This time, however, it was just given just a bit more color with the verdant vines trailing across the bricks, showing just how old they really were. But the vines themselves actually seemed well-kept, almost like someone had intentionally grown them along the wall for decoration. There was a sign for the Throne Room just on the wall beyond the corner, and on the other side of the doorway was another Save Point.

***Throne Entrance**

***File Saved**

This was it. She was about to meet the king...And decide the fate of the Underground.

...Oh, how she desperately wished Alphys hadn't run off the way she did. It would have definitely done some good, with her being there.

...And how she wished she could have given the poor little monster a proper goodbye, forgiving her when she had the chance.

...She would get the chance again.

She HAD to get the chance again.

She drew in a deep, somewhat ragged breath in her own building fear. There was always the possibility something might go awry.

And it was up to her to prevent that.

Slowly and hesitantly, she stepped forward away from the Save Point, looking down at the ground as it turned from grey cobblestone to green, grassy ground.

The silence was broken by the sound of singing birds coming from above somewhere. She looked along the walls and up to the ceiling; there was no ceiling, rather she found herself looking at the roof of the cavern. There were several thin patches in the earth above, letting the soft morning sunlight shine through, and the beautiful, warbling song of the birds on the surface could be heard from even underground.

And then, she looked ahead. There, standing among the immense bed of Golden Flowers that covered almost the entire middle section of the floor...

Was a monster.

His back was turned toward her, but the bright violet cloak, gold pauldrons and tiny crown atop his head were all she needed to see to know who she was looking at.

This was King Asgore. No doubt.

Looking at the back of his head, she first noted his full mane of golden blond fur, and then when she looked further upwards...

The horns.

The thick, segmented, lyre-shaped ivory horns that curved down, then pointed right back up, almost like an impala's.

A regal image, to say the least.

She heard Asgore emit a low hum of a song as he bent over his enormous flowerbed, seeming content. He was oblivious to her presence.

She almost didn't do it, but to alert him...

She cleared her throat.

And, just as she'd both hoped and feared, his head perked up.

"Oh? Is someone there?" he called out. His voice was very deep and powerful, but at the same time, it had a cheerful, strangely gentle quality to it.

"Y...You're Majesty?" she addressed, not wanting to be informal with him. "I'm-"

"Just one moment, please!" he answered, not sounding the least bit irked. "I am almost finished watering these flowers!"

She heard him mumble something about his flowerbed, and whether or not to make it any bigger, the sound of the water flowing from the watering can and onto the flowers keeping the silence at bay. Finally, the king nodded, satisfied with his work, leaving the small, silver watering can on the ground as he stood up to his full height and brushed some of the dust from his outfit, straightening himself out.

"Hm...There we go..." she heard him mutter to himself, and she instinctively pulled the hood even further over her head, as far as it could go, to conceal herself.

And then he turned around, and the two met face-to-face.

She couldn't stop the hands from rising to her mouth at the sight of him.

"_Oh my Glaux..._" she mouthed.

He was a Boss Monster. Just like Toriel. And he looked almost exactly like a male version of her; the white coat, the pawed appendages, the caprine face, the floppy ears, everything. It all looked so unsettlingly similar. The only real differences were the blond beard, horns and eyes.

His eyes...They were blue, like her own, rather than soft crimson like Toriel's. But his were not a striking azure like those of the human. They were darker, and softer, almost like the peak of the sky during the calm cool of the evening as opposed to the height of noon reflected in the her gaze.

A warm, friendly smile spread across Asgore's muzzle. With the face of his guest obscured the way it was, he had no idea what he was really looking at.

"Howdy, there!" he greeted. "How can I help you?"

She couldn't help it. Ginger's legs gave way, and she fell onto her knee at the sight of him, hoping that her collapse looked enough like a humble bow.

But Asgore was actually alarmed by this, having seen her unsteadiness just moments before her fall, and he hastily approached the hooded figure to give her aid.

"Are you alright? What is the matter? A-are you hurt?" he asked, not knowing how to assess the situation.

"...King Asgore?"

"Yes?"

"I'm...I came to...I don't know if..."

She couldn't spit it out. Asgore was now genuinely worried.

"Pray tell, what troubles you? Whatever it is, I will do whatever I can to help you."

The poor creature looked so weary, scuffs and tears all over her armor and a cloak that was in absolute shambles.

"May I take your cloak for you, traveler?" he offered. "You must have traveled so far to get here, from what I'm seeing."

That was it. He would know as soon as he saw her face.

But he was going to have to find out here at some point, right?

She nodded, removing the hood from her head as Asgore took the rest of it. She was looking down, still, so it wasn't just yet that he actually saw what she really was.

"Traveler, you barely seem able to stand," he noted, going up to his throne in the center of the room and carefully draping the tattered garment over the back of it. His back was turned to the visitor as she stood up and rose her head.

"I think it wise that you stay and rest a while before you depart," he said, courteously flattening out some of the wrinkles in the cloak. "And if you would like, we can discuss what you came for over a nice cup of..."

He turned to face his company, only to behold the tawny-headed human standing there.

"...Tea..."

His eyes widened at the sight of her. Ginger raised a gauntleted hand to rub some of the grit from her face, then sighed deeply.

"...You probably already know why I'm here," she finally said to him. She opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came out. She had nothing else to say to him.

"...Yes," he nodded solemnly. "...I do know."

He strayed away from his throne, suddenly finding the singing birds aboveground very interesting.

"...Nice day today, huh?" he remarked, as though there was no tension at all. "Birds are singing, flowers are blooming...Perfect weather for a game of catch, isn't it?"

"It is."

The sight of her was a bit unsettling, and not just because of what was to happen soon enough. None of the humans who had fallen before her had been quite so prepared to fight off the dangers posed to them by his people and Royal Guard, much less himself. But this one had a full set of armor, and she had the familiar, hardened glimmer in her eyes of one who had seen the face of combat many times...Perhaps too many in her day, despite looking no older than maybe fourteen.

"I suppose..." he began, starting for the other end of the Throne Room and approaching the exit. "...You know what we must do, then."

"We don't have to do this, King Asgore."

He tensed a bit, but did not take her words to heart; yes, they did have to do it. If only they didn't, but it had to be done.

"...This is a hard thing for both of us," he confirmed. "When you are ready, follow me to the next room."

"Asgore...?"

She called his name again, but it was too late; he didn't even look back, only entering into the room beyond his garden.

She walked on the grass to reach the opposite end of the room, not wanting to trample his flowers. She felt bad for the king, she really did, but with her being the last SOUL needed to break the Barrier, it looked like he would need some more convincing yet.

Ginger was just about to enter through to the next room, when she saw something across from the doorway...It was another throne, sitting in the dark corner, a white sheet having been draped over it to conceal it from view.

_Toriel's throne..._

She suddenly didn't feel comfortable without her cloak, and she carefully stretched her leg over the Golden Flowers and onto the bare patch of ground, then pushing herself forward to stand beside the throne. She reclaimed her cloak, slipped it back on, hood down, then strode over the flowers again, meeting yet another Save Point just to the right of the door.

***Throne Room**

***File Saved**

Once that was taken care of, the human started into the room after the garden. Asgore was standing there waiting for her, looking very contemplative about things, perhaps reconsidering his options. He sighed nervously, glancing off to the side, not wanting to meet the human in the eye.

"How tense..." he remarked, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Hmm...Just think of it like...a visit to the dentist."

"...I've...never been to the dentist before," she admitted.

"Oh...Um...Excuse the bad analogy, then," the king apologized as they walked. "J-just...If you just relax and close your eyes, then...It will all be over before you know it."

"You do know I'm not going to let that happen, right?"

"...Ha...I...should have expected as much," he admitted. "If you have made it this far, you must have learned quite a few things on your journey. And you seem...quite well prepared for the whole ordeal...Well, then...I suppose we'll be settling things the old fashioned way?"

"I didn't come with any intent to harm, sir," Ginger said to him again. "...But I will defend myself with any means."

"...I see."

"Can't we settle this somehow without the violence?"

"...We can't."

"Why is that?"

"...I'm the one who started this...Unless I see it through, then...then I won't..."

He trailed off, deciding not to finish, and they found themselves at the next gateway.

"Erm...Are you ready?" he asked her, stopping briefly outside the entrance. "I understand if you are not. I am not really ready for this, either...But it must be done."

"So...You're dead set on all this?"

"...Yes. And...I am sorry for that."

He proceeded inside, and Ginger saw one more Save Point for her to interact with, slowly bending down and reaching a hand out toward it.

***The End**

***File Saved**

There was no use waiting for the inevitable. She stepped into the room beyond the gates, and there before them stood an almost spectral image.

The Barrier, the very entity keeping the monsters sealed in their subterranean prison, stood in between them and the cave exit that lead to the world on the surface.

"...This is the Barrier," he explained. "This is what keeps us all trapped underground...Through your seventh and final SOUL, we can finally undo the thousand-year spell...and return to the surface world."

Ginger was silent.

"If...If by chance, you have any unfinished business, then...Please. Do as you must. I will wait for you."

There was nothing else she could do, now. Nowhere else to go. Nobody else to see...She couldn't just turn around and hide away somewhere like a coward.

This was really it.

She stood her ground, and the king interpreted her silence as the signal to begin.

"...I see...So, this is it, then."

He rose a paw, commanding that something rise from hiding. Seven holes opened up in the floor, and out from each space there rose a clear, glass canister.

Each of them contained a glowing human SOUL that hovered in their containment...except for one.

A strange light began to fill the room from above as it shone from the sky through the Barrier.

Her journey was finally over.

But, even now, standing before the king, who had vowed to destroy all humanity, she wouldn't back down. Her FORTITUDE stood fast and unwavering.

And all the while, she was filled with **DETERMINATION.**

"...Human," Asgore addressed, managing one more smile for her and extending a paw to shake. "It was nice to meet you."

She met him halfway, her gloved hand small enough to fit right in between his enormous padded thumb and forefinger. When they let go, Asgore's brow furrowed in anguish, and he shakily, reluctantly reached for something within his cloak.

"...Goodbye."

The gateway behind them slammed shut, and the King of Monsters pulled out a giant, glowing red trident from his cloak, which came at the human with one swift swing, his eyes shut tightly all the while. No cry of agony followed the attack. Was it over? Had he actually done it? Hesitantly, he opened his eyes, preparing to see the worst.

But instead of a body, he beheld the crouched human to his side. She'd dodged the attack, and was now pulling something from the pack she carried.

It was a bow. And with it, three arrows.

This was really happening. She was going to fight back. She was going to fight him valiantly.

And with that, the battle was on.


	31. Chapter 29: Resisting Regicide

"Please, human," he plead, the trident shaking in his paws. "I...I don't want this to hurt anymore than it has to."

"It DOESN'T have to," his opponent insisted, her voice surprisingly calm. "I don't want to fight you, Asgore, but if you keep at it, I will."

His breathing got a bit strange for a moment, and he cast the weapon at her again in a powerful, but halfhearted sweep. She ducked beneath it in the nick of time, the three prongs just barely grazing the top of her head, then fired her own readied projectile at his shoulder plate.

Asgore turned out to be wearing his own set of armor beneath that purple cloak, and was a leather-metal hybrid design, just like Ginger's, even sporting the Deltarune across it, as hers did the Symbol of Bhachtyr. But his was gleaming and gold-plated, meeting the highest standards, in contrast to the brassy scrap-metal alloy that the human's was crafted from. Being so strong a set, the human should have expected the arrow she launched to have gone in as deep as it did.

...Which barely amounted to anything. And it actually fell from his armor just moments afterward, having barely caused a wound deep enough to bleed at all. Her arrows were practically useless against him.

She would have to use her alternative.

For a moment, the king's trident dissipated, and he prepared a harder-to-dodge attack, reluctantly opening his palms and summoning a burst of flame.

_Fire magic..._

The flames came down from above in spirals, almost braiding around each other. It was a difficult attack to dodge.

Unbeknownst to him, the human had experience with this type of combat before.

She skillfully wedged herself within the spaces between the streams as they parted, and only just barely clipped one of the blazing bullets. He had to try something else.

A lighter array of the sparks began to descend, and the young human avoided them easily. Hopefully, she would not anticipate what would happen next.

Her portion of the battlefield began to flash red; she recognized this attack method from the fight against Mettaton, and immediately scrambled away from the area, taking on one more stray bullet in the process from the side just as a fiery downpour erupted from within the flashing. The other side flashed even quicker, and she ducked and tumbled out of the way of that blast as well.

Asgore re-summoned his immense trident. He didn't show it, but he was truly impressed. Never had any human been so skillful on the battlefield, even those who'd come down already equipped with weapons.

Speaking of weapons, that was when he saw the human pull something from her pack with a frustrated huff, clutching the handle tightly in her gauntleted hand. It was a familiar-looking, dirty, worn dagger.

That couldn't be...Could it?

"I WILL use this if I have to!" she warned, borderline yelling. "Put. The trident. Down. NOW."

Oh, if only he could. But it was too late now.

Ginger saw something flash in his eyes. Strange coloration, almost magic-induced. Blue, orange, orange...

That was when she realized.

It was a warning signal.

The trident flashed from red to blue, and he swung it at her...But she stood still as a stone, even if just for a split second as it passed through her body like it was air.

And when the trident turned orange, she drew in as it swung the first time, then a second, and then dove in right for the king's feet.

He felt something tear through the black leather of his leggings, and the burning sensation of a wound that followed. But it was a flesh wound, and in the leg; not anywhere close to lethal, so the king stood his ground and faced the human again, his head bowed and his trident flashing to red again before disappearing yet once more.

Again, he tried fire magic; a swift cast to the side with his arm, and there was a good, strong row of it that formed in its wake. Then with one more manual command, he sent them right for the human. But once he launched those flames, he was no longer in control of them, and their path was straight. The human could simply move out of the way if she wanted.

And that was exactly what she did.

But the seemingly simple and easy-to-evade attack had a catch. There wasn't just one wave. There were several, each appearing quicker than their predecessor, first coming instantly after the last, and then overlapping between each other, even. It was a confusing attack, and the king hoped it would disorient her, getting her slow enough to land a good, quick blow on to just finish the job.

But she was quick; that armor was lighter than his own, and she had more experience than he thought, so she not only survived the attack, but avoided a good amount of it. She failed to miss every flame, though, and after the barrage, she held her arm; the metal there was soft, and the bitter smell of charred leather was apparent. The burn had penetrated her armor. Asgore looked up for a moment, his guard lowering. He desperately wanted to cease the fight and heal her.

Faltering had been a mistake, though.

The human before him emitted a notably angry growl before lunging at him again and sending the dagger cutting through the side of his thick chest plate. The very tip of it passed to the other side of it, not even piercing an inch through his furry hide beneath.

The damage was superficial, but as soon as the human scrambled back to a safe distance and saw the blood on the tip of her weapon, remorse pooled in her eyes.

She looked up at him, silently pleading that he stop this madness, but he still refused to lock eyes with her.

"...It's..." he stammered, his trident forming in his grasp again. "It's alright. I understand. I understand entirely. But..."

He shut his eyes again, then took another swing with his glowing red weapon. He knew deep down he could only aim it right if he kept his eyes open and locked on the target, but he couldn't bare to watch the human become a mangled mess of spilled innards and a disembodied SOUL. As he expected, she was able to duck beneath the swing. So he sent it hurtling towards her again, and again, and again. Ginger saw that Asgore was just swinging it haphazardly, hoping he might somehow miraculously land a proper hit that way.

He was that desperate to get it over with.

"This-" she swerved to avoid another swing. "-This has gone on long enough! Do you even know what you're doing? What if your plan fails somehow!?"

"It's too late..." he answered quietly, his voice trembling in an odd manner. "...to turn back..."

"It's NEVER too late!"

He didn't listen. He COULDN'T listen. And now, he pointed the weapon, able to aim the prongs at her stomach for just a brief moment before plunging it towards the leather. Ginger flung herself off the side once she saw what he was trying to do...

But not soon enough to avoid one of the outside points jabbing through the leather and through her starboard side, leaving a deep puncture wound there.

The human squawked upon the hit, seemingly more in shock than in pain at first, but she was quick to double over, emitting a suppressed wail as she fell to her knees. Blood began to pour from the hole, and Ginger reached up and tightly grabbed her hood, vainly hoping that gripping it hard enough would ease the pain. Asgore shut his eyes again and turned away, unable to bear the sight of her suffering. Then, knowing it was inevitable, he started to charge his trident up with flames of its own.

Ginger saw what he was doing, and found herself at a loss for escapes. Her blood loss was growing worse; if the king, for some reason, couldn't muster the courage to put her out of her misery with one more blow, she would die of the wound eventually; it'd likely punctured a kidney, anyway, which was dangerous by itself. And she had nothing left to heal herself with.

...Or...

...Or did she?

The young human gasped in realization, in spite of her growing weakness. She DID still have ONE more healing item at her disposal. The one bit of food left she had packed away, never thinking she would actually bring herself to eat it.

Finally, Asgore fired up his trident with nearly enough scorching heat to set an entire meadow on fire, and he turned to face the human. She'd buried herself within the dirty cloak she wore, and he could still detect movement coming from inside it. With a shaking paw, he rose the trident and pointed it down at her. It was like laying down a poor game animal that he'd failed to shoot properly to put it out of its misery before harvesting it.

And the idea sickened him.

But just when he thought he could finally let the trident fall, he saw her begin to stand back up. He looked at the spot where the end prong of his trident skewered her; there was a hole in the leather of the armor, but the skin had closed up, and blood no longer spilled out of it. Not only that, but all of the other wounds she's received thus far, the burns, the blows, the scuffs and bruises she'd first arrived with, all of them. They were all gone in an instant.

And then the human raised her head.

Her mouth was stuffed full, and whatever food she was eating, she had what was left of it squeezed in her hand. It almost looked like...

A pie crust. And the smell of it...Asgore swore it smelled just like...

Butterscotch.

And cinnamon.

_It can't be..._

"...How...?" he just barely breathed.

His opponent shoved what was left of Toriel's culinary masterpiece into her mouth and swallowed, barely bothering to savor the final bite.

"...I'm sorry, Asgore."

With an almost grievous grunt, she plunged the dagger into the other side of his chest plate now at full force. He didn't even tense, he was in such disbelief, and the blade passed through the leather and into his side, cutting deep into his soft tissue. Now blood started to leak from HIS side. Despite this, he barely even seemed to notice. Ginger noticed his indifference.

"...Asgore?"

At the mention on his name, the king snapped out of his state of shock, shaking his head and taking a few deep breaths, the flames in his trident having died. Instead of using that, he instead raised his arm, pointing it upward, and the human looked above to see the swirling inferno the Boss Monster had summoned, the flames spinning down and out from the center point like a hurricane. But they were spaced apart, despite their speed and unpredictable direction, and she managed to evade all but one.

Maybe if he tried the trident again, it'd catch her off guard.

The monster's eyes began to flash again; orange, orange, orange, then blue. With the first three swings, the human honed in again, landing a slash of her knife on the leather of his arm. But she froze too late, and the side of the icy blue weapon sent her straight into the ground. Ginger got off extremely lucky; had the trident been cast at an angle, she would have been impaled, and the last bit of food she'd just used would have been a waste.

Asgore was beginning to get impatient with himself; why couldn't he land a blow right? Why was he going so easy on her? The first human to come down hadn't even put up a fight; she'd just...stood there, arms out, waiting for the inevitable. He didn't think he would feel any remorse, knowing all of the terrible things the humans had done to them.

But he had wept over that dead body for hours, and would have taken that trident to himself that day had his Royal Guard Captain at the time not found and stopped him just in time. And now he was gone, too. Dead at the hands of the _last_ human to have come down before the one he faced now. And that gun had not only taken the life of Doge in a split second; when Undyne stepped in to assume his position and avenge his death, the human with the yellow SOUL had fired a shot right to her face before he was buried under a merciless shower of spears. Undyne, too, nearly lost her life that day, and her new title as Captain of the Royal Guard had cost her an eye.

But even after what a number of the fallen humans had done, he could not help but want to bring them all back. What would it have been like if he had instead taken back his promise to his people? Would they still all be here, alive, and maybe even happy? But it would have plunged the kingdom back into despair all over again, right when he had gotten their hopes back up. People would have mourned their eternal prison, and surely, rebellions would have ensued after he'd dashed all of their hopes. Asgore had dug his own grave that day. And now he was lying in it.

And he actually hoped this human would beat him, so he really COULD be laid to rest after so many years of loathing himself for his horrible deeds.

Ginger saw the recollection flash in his eyes as he stood there, doing nothing, and she rose to her feet again.

"Asgore," she told him, her voice as hard as stone. "There HAS to be another way out of this. I...I don't know, but even without your SOUL, there's still a chance I could be strong enough to pass through the Barrier. And if I can do that, I WILL find a way for you to get out. Mark my words. Maybe I'll find some other human to bring here; one that's old and about to die anyway, or someone who DESERVES to die...I'll be honest with you, Asgore: I don't like humans that much myself. But there ARE some good ones out there; there HAVE to be. Wiping them all out isn't the solution. And it's not right. I doubt all of them are going to just blindly hate your kind. And some of them just...they don't know any better; it's ignorance. If you DO end up breaking the Barrier, then...Try to make peace with them."

"We've tried that before," he rasped.

"Times have changed since the war. You might have better luck this time. Especially if they KNOW why you're there this time around."

"If they find out about...what we did for our freedom..."

"I'll help you. Do you know just how deep the hole in the ground is?"

"It won't work..."

"There's ALWAYS A WAY, ASGORE!"

"We can't...wait...any...longer!"

He just barely kept himself from shouting, then he gripped his trident like a lifeline and swung it again, only to miss, the human diving down at his legs again and leaving a fresh gash in his unprotected ankle. Now he was starting to notice his wounds; they were accumulating, and the one in his side, while not lethal by itself, was still bleeding; if he didn't step up his game, HE would likely perish at the human's hands.

But he would make the best of either option...Though not without putting at least a bit more effort into his own promise to his people.

Another fire attack conjured up around young Ginger; this time, the flames formed open circles around her, and she found that she was able to pass through the openings of the flame wheels to avoid being burned. It was too easy.

Again, he readied his trident; blue, blue, orange, blue. So the human stood frozen for the first two swings, then moved on the third...though she couldn't stop herself in time to avoid the final blue hit, and the prongs of the weapon landed in her shoulder plate, cutting through the metal and just barely piercing the shoulder underneath. It was one of his best maneuvers, but she was still fighting fit, and wasn't planning on going down anytime soon.

So he tried his previous attack, but with an added affect; the rings of fire now spun around the human instead of simply closing in, and the openings she could escape from changed position as they rotated. This proved harder for Ginger to get by, and a few of the bullets clipped her along the sides, one even landing right on the side of her face. The blow to the right temple was hard and hot enough to make her raise a hand up to it, and for a moment she analyzed the damage, perhaps just to make doubly sure that she still had both eyes. But when she realized she did, the young human went if for another blow, sending the knife slashing across the black leather beneath the chest plate, leaving a long break in the flesh very similar to what the Black Kite had done to her in her last big fight, which had granted her that scar along the stomach.

But this time the cut was clean slash, and not a jagged rip that the dictator had left.

It bled out slowly, and Asgore did his best to fight the gradually worsening loss of blood as the white of his coat and the black of his leather plackart ran red. Ginger saw that he was getting weaker; if she could just whittle him down enough to make him stop, and THEN try to reason with him...But even so, to what lengths would he go in order to keep his promise of freedom to the Underground? It didn't seem like he could do much else but do the grim job himself. All else had failed; the puzzles, the Royal Guard, the civilians...She'd gotten past all of it. He was the one remaining thing that had a chance to accomplish their goal.

And now HIS victory was becoming more uncertain.

However, he saw that the hone-in maneuver was effective against her, so he decided to try the third and most swiftly-turning wave of the attack to see what it would do. But by this time, the human had become accustomed to the spinning, and was able to slide through the openings, waiting for them to draw close enough for her to know exactly WHERE her escape port would be before leaping in that direction to pass the flames. Some of the flaming wheels turned faster than others and some were stationary as they simply closed in. She had it down pact.

And then she dug the blade of the dagger into his upper arm, causing the trident he was forming again in his grasp to waver a bit before fully summoning.

Asgore was getting desperate, so again he tried the reckless swinging of the weapon to try and knock the opponent off her feet before putting her out of her misery. He had already guessed that it likely wouldn't work, but the human's own carelessness with her thinking that the attacks would be easy to avoid balanced out with the sweeps.

She just barely missed one swing that'd been aimed right at her head, but in dodging it, she tripped over her own boots and staggered, slamming against what felt like a wall behind her and seeing the three points of the triple-headed spear point down right at her, freezing just a foot away. The king accidentally locked eyes with her for just a brief moment; she was staring at the tips of the weapon, her eyes as wide as saucers, and his expression was one of deep remorse, but also of exhaustion, longing, and just the tiniest bit of relief. As soon as he realized what he was looking down at, Asgore shut his eyes and turned his head away again, the weapon lowering slightly in his grasp. The human took the chance to look up at just what she was pinned up against.

Its magic pulsated like a disembodied heart against her back, just barely resisting the strength of her SOUL and keeping her from falling through effortlessly.

It was the Barrier.

"Human...F...Forgive me for this..."

The Boss Monster's choked up speech snapped her back into the battle, and Ginger let her legs cave in as the trident hurtled right towards her head...and missed, careening into the Barrier instead and bouncing right off. When he looked down to see where she'd gone, Asgore discovered that she'd disappeared.

"This has gone on FAR ENOUGH!"

The knife ran past the armor and through his back at an angle, the length of it only cutting through his hide. He turned to face her, swinging his weapon one more time.

"THIS ISN'T THE WAY!"

He never expected what she did next; the human's grabbed the weapon just beneath the split of the prongs with her gloved hands and pushed against its force, her blade still held tightly within her right gauntlet, even as it fought manually against the magic trident. Desperation flashed within the high noon of her gaze, and in a sudden fit of fury, Ginger descended the length of the king's weapon, screaming as she honed in on him.

"**STOOOOOOOOOOP!**"

Finally, the worn dagger flew into his left side one more time, deeper than ever, the blade completely disappearing within the leather, only the handle remaining visible. The monster tensed upon the blow. His trident wavered, then dissipated, and the stab began to spill crimson fluid as the human drew out her weapon.

It was too much. It all added up and it had become too much.

Ginger stepped away from the king as he weakly lowered to his knees, looking at the dagger she had drawn out of him.

And she stared at it, horrified. The entirety of the blade was bathed in his blood.

"...Ah..." he sighed, his breathing pained. "So that...is how it is..."

Ginger looked down at the kneeling Boss Monster's side; it was worse still than the wound in his other side, yet still SOMEHOW refrained from being lethal. She was amazed by his durability, knowing that just one slash of a blade not anywhere near sharp as the one she now carried could easily kill the queen...Then again, Toriel had no armor for defense against the weapon. Asgore did.

Even so, one more hit to him, and he would be certainly be reduced to dust.

"...I remember the day after my son died," he whispered. "The entire Underground was devoid of hope. Just...Just like that, he was gone at the human's hands. Once again, they had taken everything from us."

He grasped the ground in frustration with himself.

"In a fit of anger, I declared war. I vowed to the people that from hence forth, every human who falls down here must be destroyed, no matter who, no matter how good or how evil, and no matter how old, and that with enough SOULs, I would become godlike, and use my powers to not only free us from this terrible prison...but also to destroy humanity, so monsters could rule the surface in peace. With that, the people's hopes returned...But I failed to see the consequences of my declaration soon enough. My wife was absolutely disgusted by my actions...I can still remember that horrified look on her face right after I finished that accursed speech. She left this place, never to be seen or heard from again."

"Toriel..."

He choked up at the mere mention of her name.

"That's...That's right. That was her name," he confirmed, holding back a flow of tears.

"...Truthfully, I do not want power," Asgore continued. "I do not want to hurt anybody. I just want everyone to have hope..."

One of his tears escaped, flowing down the matted white and gold fur along his mournful face.

"But I cannot take this any longer," he grieved. "I just want to see my wife. I just want to see my child..."

He rose his head to finally look the human in the eye.

"Young one," he told her. "This war has gone on long enough. You have the power to stop it...Take my SOUL, and leave this cursed place."

The human gripped the handle of her dagger more tightly, and with a shaky breath, she rose the weapon, pointing it down right at him. The King of Monsters bowed his head again in submission as he closed his eyes, accepting defeat, and accepting the sweet embrace of death.

He was content.

And that was when the dagger fell.

And it made a loud, metallic clanging noise as it clattered to the floor from Ginger's hand.

Asgore opened his eyes to find the young warrior's weapon on the ground, and then he turned his gaze back to its wielder, watching her slowly lower to her own knees.

"I...I can't do it..." she whimpered. "I can't do it, Asgore, I can't kill you."

"But..." he reminded her. "...Your freedom."

The human clenched her fists, not sure she was fully convinced what she was about to say herself. But here she was, about to say it, after everything she'd gone through in order to return to the surface world.

"I'd rather be stuck Underground here for the rest of my life..." She hid her face in her hands. "...than to leave this place leaderless and...You can't die, Asgore, I can't do it."

She was crying now, he knew she was. He could tell by the ragged breathing, despite it being hushed so it couldn't be heard.

"...After everything I have done to hurt you..." the king marveled. "You would rather stay down here and suffer...than live happily on the surface world...?"

She was silent, but her silence was all he needed to know that she meant everything she said, word for word. He huffed out a laugh, in spite of himself, the smile returning to his muzzle, and he rose his head once more, a newfound hope having appeared in his sad, blue eyes.

"...Human," he addressed, lifting her chin up. Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall, but she was still silent. "I...I promise you...for as long as you remain here...my wife and I will take care of you as best we can."

She emitted a wet sniffle, and the king gently caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"Yes, human. You'll be alright. You're safe now...Ha..."

He forgot all about his proclamation.

"Just the three of us," he imagined. "We...we can sit in the living room. Telling stories, p-playing tabletop games...Eating butterscotch pie. Why...We could be like..."

A spark of joy that he hadn't felt in the longest time rekindled within him.

"...Like a family."

The human rose her hand a put it against his gentle paw, using her other arm to dry the flow of tears that'd finally begin to lessen. She was okay. Asgore was still here. The war was over. She'd done it. At last, she'd convinced him to stop it all. And while the Barrier still stood between her and freedom, she would be completely content staying in the Underground until the day came when they would finally...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of materializing magic.

For a moment, Ginger thought her ears were deceiving her, but judging by the startled look on the king's face, he'd heard it as well. And when they unlocked their gazes to look around themselves...

There, forming a ring around Asgore, was a floating series of spinning, white bullets.

"What-"

And then the ring closed in around the king of monsters. He tried to stand and evade the assault, but his wounds were too great to move quickly enough, and all of them, all of the several dozen bullets that'd honed in on him from all directions as soon as they'd appeared, struck Asgore right through the middle.

His heart stopped. The contorted expression of pain was frozen on his face.

And then his eyes rolled back into his head as his body began to dissemble into dust.

"No..."

Just like that, he was gone.

"No, no, no, no, NO, _NO_ **_NO!_**"

She saw his SOUL, the fragile upside-down white heart that still held the king within it, rise from the dust, and she reached for it, hoping she could save it.

But there was one bullet left, and before she could reach out to grab it, it lowered right into the SOUL, snapping it right in half.

And what was left of the noble King Asgore broke apart into uncountable pieces, scattering out into nothingness.

Ginger was hysteric, bending over the monster's dust and desperately trying to put it back together with some vain hope that she could restore him; one minute the king was kneeling before her, telling her of the bright future that lay ahead for the two of them, and the next moment he had turned to dust. He was gone. Dead. How?! Who!? Where did that magic come from!? What abomination of a being was responsible for this!?

She was not expecting an answer.

The ashes shifted, and the human scrambled away from them, almost hoping that they were about to reform into the Boss Monster that'd been sitting there just seconds ago. But instead of a Boss Monster, something else poked out from the white dust.

A bright yellow flower, and he wore a sickeningly innocent smile on his face.

That was all she had to see to know what'd happened.

And in an instant, her heartbreak boiled and rose from the pit of her stomach to fill her chest, turning from grieving agony into pure, relentless fury.

"..._**You,**_" she whispered, her voice deathly hushed. Flowey simply giggled as though it were nothing more than a childish prank.

"You IDIOT," he chastised, still grinning widely, looking very pleased with himself. "With someone with as high LOVE as you, I thought you would have kept up with whatever you were doing on the surface...But you haven't learned a thing from any of this, have you? Well...I guess I'll just have to remind you again!"

Ginger didn't care about what he said, and grabbed the worn dagger off the ground to go after him with and avenge the king.

But before she could get close enough to do so, a think, thorny vine shot up from the ground, lashed out at her feet and sent her falling forward.

And when she looked up at the flower, she saw what he'd done.

The six human SOULs that the king had gathered were now free from their canisters, and Flowey had all of them encircling him.

"In this world..."

"Oh, NO..." Ginger breathed.

"**It's KILL or BE killed...!**"

His face distorted into a horrific image that'd risen straight from the depths of hell, and he let out a maniacal cackle as the six SOULs drew towards him to be absorbed. The light intensified, the world around began to fade, and from her own sheer terror at what she now beheld, Ginger whited out.


	32. Chapter 30: Void of All Hope

Dark.

Darker.

Yet darker.

The darkness stretched on forever, and the air was still, just as though it didn't exist either. Silence reigned supreme once again. There was nothing; no clash of weapons, no screams, no cries of grief. Even the pulsating noise of the Barrier had vanished.

It had just gone dead quiet.

Finally, a lonely pair of eyes opened somewhere in the darkness. They darted around, and the figure quickly discovered that was alone in the vast sea of nothingness. She knew this place, but at the same time, she had no idea where she was.

It was the void; the void she'd visited only once, when she'd foolishly let herself die at the hands of Muffet's pet, its emptiness stretching across infinity.

Ginger slowly rose to her feet; to her surprise, the battle wounds she'd received while fighting Asgore had all vanished...Of course, the last time she'd been here, she hadn't exactly hopped on one leg across the blackness after her other one was ripped off. Was it more entwined with the spirit? The void was a different place from the physical realm, she'd long concluded, but it still held vast mysteries.

She looked around; there was nothing to be seen among the sea of nothing. Except...

What was that?

Off in the far distance, she saw...SOMETHING clashing against the black. A tiny flicker of light. Were those the same options that had appeared to her during her last visit to this grim place? There was only one way to know for sure, so she began to bolt for it.

As the object came into view more clearly, Ginger began to slow down. It was...it was...

A Save Point?

She finally skidded to a halt when she came within just a foot of the shimmering star. The human rose a skeptical eyebrow; what was a Save Point doing in the void? Sure, she'd seen them in some odd places with some odd names, but here? In the void? It didn't really make sense. And what'd happened to her options to **Continue **or **Not**? Maybe it was a replacement option...But come to think of it, what was she doing here in the first place? Hadn't she won that fight? Asgore stopped fighting, then promised happiness with his comforting words, and then Flowey...

Flowey...What'd happened after that...was sort of a blur. How long had she been here, anyway?

She wondered what would happen if she checked that Save Point...

***The End**

**-Save  
-Return**

A cracking sound, louder than the loudest earthquake, erupted across the void, and the Save Point flickered, then dimmed, then disappeared.

***File Erased**

Something broke its way through the words flashed before her, shattering them as its head came into view.

It smiling, flowery head.

"Howdy, there!" he greeted. "It's me, Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

Ginger instinctively pulled her dagger from her pack, finding that it'd returned to her, and pointed it at the hellish bloom, who was ten times bigger than he should have been.

"What'd you do!? Where is everything!?" she demanded of him.

"Oh, I owe you a huge thanks, you know?" he explained. "You REALLY did a number on that old fool. Even I was impressed! Without you, I'd have never gotten past him!"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO KING ASGORE!?"

"Well..."

His face contorted until it became an exact likeness of the king.

"It's really pretty simple! Thanks to your help..."

And his image began to melt into a hellish mess of dripping flesh.

"HE'S DEAD."

He flashed back to his original face, a malicious grin spread across his face.

"And I have the six human SOULs all right here at my command!"

The demon let out another raspy laugh.

"Boy, I've been empty for so long...It feels GREAT to have a SOUL inside me again. Mmmm, I can feel them all...wriggling..."

Ginger was about ready to drop her knife, her hand had gotten so weak.

"Awww, you're feelin' left out, aren't you?" He sympathized falsely. "Well, don't worry! After all, I only have six human SOULs. I just need one more to add to my collection... BEFORE I BECOME AN ABSOLUTE **GOD**. And then, with my newfound powers...Monsters. Humans. EVERYONE. I'LL SHOW THEM ALL THE **REAL** MEANING OF THIS _KILL_ OR _BE KILLED _WORLD!"

No...This wasn't happening. This COULDN'T be happening! Maybe if she just willed herself back to the Save Point before fighting Asgore...

"Oh, and you can forget about escaping to your old Save File...It's GONE. FOREVER."

"No..." she whispered hoarsely.

"But don't you worry! Your old friend Flowey worked out a little replacement for you!"

His eyes became dark pits, and his mouth opened to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth.

"I'LL SAVE OVER YOUR OWN **DEATH**. AND THEN YOU CAN WATCH ME TEAR YOU TO BLOODY, MANGLED PIECES! OVER! AND _OVER_! AND **_OVER _**UNTIL YOUR OWN **SANITY **IS RIPPED APART JUST LIKE YOUR BODY! AND YOU FINALLY CAVE IN TO THE ETERNAL PIT OF-"

The human stepped forward, her knife still pointed at him. She wasn't going down without at least fighting back.

"...What?" he marveled. "Do you REALLY, ACTUALLY think you can stop ME!?"

He managed a laugh, genuinely amused by her futile attempt at being a threat.

"Boy...You really ARE an idiot!"

Deciding not to wait any longer for his inevitable omnipotence, he disappeared into the darkness. Ginger's SOUL flashed before her, and in Flowey's place, there appeared six other flashes, appearing in hexagonal formation, just as a fight squadron would when entering the battlefield.

Blue.

Orange.

Indigo.

Purple.

Green.

Yellow.

Six SOULs.

Six different traits.

And they joined with their cruel master to form a single demigod going head to head against one enemy SOUL.

The scarlet one. The last needed to take complete control. She was the only thing that stood in Flowey's way.

The black of the void began to flash red, the light almost pulsating like the Barrier. The six SOULs beat together to form the dark image of a thorny beast emerging from the shadows. He came from all directions except for right behind her, growing larger as his power grew stronger. His thorns grew sharper. He commanded more teeth. More eyes. More claws. More grey veins pulsing with his own power. More weapons to wield.

More terror.

The human stood, wide-eyed, at her opponent as his face finally came into view, right in the very center of the green abomination. He opened his mouth, displaying a crooked smile, and his demonic eyes, flashing red and green, displayed one single, raw emotion.

Insanity. He'd gone mad. And if she didn't win, the whole world would be doomed. She HAD to fight him. She HAD to BEAT him or else EVERYTHING and EVERYONE on the earth would perish. The world was in her hands. And nobody except herself even knew it.

And with a horrific roar of a cackle that rang out across the entire void, the assault began.

To Ginger's surprise, he started out with an unfittingly easy-to-counter attack; a series of white bullets, shaped mockingly like Save Points, and while they came fast, they were spaced apart easily enough to her to weave around them, especially with all of the experience she'd accumulated dodging these kinds of moves. A warmup attack, she surmised; a foe like this HAD to have more powerful moves at his disposal.

She was right; just barely before the bullets finished, he summoned new weapons on either side of him in a split second.

And they spat flames!

One of them singed her arm, but they couldn't move fast enough to do any more than they did. Ginger managed to dig her knife into one of the thorny arms extending down from above at her, a large chunk of it coming off and spilling white, liquid sap. Due to his size, Flowey barely even noticed it, and instead launched a counter move.

He aimed a barrage of clawed, thorny vines down at her, and Ginger had to move and keep moving in order to even have a chance at avoiding them. One of the thorny vines snagged her leg and tripped her, and he aimed right at his opponent's chest while she was down so he could rip her heart clean out of its cavity. But she managed to roll off to the side just in time, the vines instead deciding to hit her along the legs, leaving several open gashes from their spikes.

Despite them stinging more than she expected, the human got back onto her feet, only for another attack to form against her.

One that she recognized all to well.

It was Flowey's classic assault of 'friendliness pellets.' But on a much greater and more powerful scale.

They formed across the battlefield instead of directly around her, giving her just a brief moment to plan her move before they imploded, then shot outward. The further she was away from the rings when they did that, the better she could doge them, so she tried this...

But the attack was more confusing to counter than she anticipated, and she ended up smack in the middle of one of the rings as it shot inward towards her. Pain exploded in the warrior's chest as one of them hit and the rest of them dissipated. Ginger's face contorted with pain as she clawed at her chest, feeling constricted by her own ribs. Was this the last thing Asgore felt before dusting? She was afraid to know.

But she survived it, and shot a glare up at the demigod that had every intention to murder her in an absolute bloodbath.

"**Urgh...Fine. So you're fast,**" Flowey admitted. "**But that won't help you against THIS!**"

One of the six loops of sap vessels forming around his face began to pulse harder, the sickly grey flashing a light blue color.

The SOUL. That was where he kept them.

Flowey's monstrous form disappeared from view again, and in his place was the tiny blue SOUL that he had under his belt.

The SOUL of PATIENCE.

The several dozen bullets it summoned up were aptly shaped like knives, and just as sharp and deadly as any real one. They moved across the field in sync with one another, rotating as they meandered. Ginger only had a few seconds to pass by the blades as they spun, and every careful maneuver she made around them came just inches shy of getting her sliced. The human SOUL seemed stiff in its place, and the fighter could tell that it was doing all of this against its will.

"Can't you escape somehow?" she asked it, though she knew not to expect an answer. "You might be under his control, but if you could break free of it, you might be able to help put a stop to this, you know! At least snap out of it, would you!?"

One of the blades cut across her arm and through the leather, leaving a good inch deep slash there with its very tip. The human let out a pained cry as blood began to spurt out of the gash, and she pressed her arm against in in a vain attempt to slow the bleeding. The SOUL didn't seem to have paid her any mind.

But that was when the white knives began to waver, and the white magic turned green, the pellets all heading right for her.

_Green magic..._

She tried one of the bullets; all one had to do was brush against her finger and the laceration in her arm would close up just a bit more. There were dozens of them, and they had taken the form of bandages instead of the lethal knives. Before she even knew it, the artery had closed, the blood lost had been restored to her, and the wound had fully closed. The human SOUL had answered her after all.

And then, to her utter shock, it answered her CLEARLY. She could hear it speak to her as the green bullets continued to approach.

"_Thank you...for that,_" it seemed to huff. "_But the fight's not over yet. You still have five more to break free. I'm free of his command, but only when you help all of us will we be able to get out of him for good. Have PATIENCE, friend. And...Be careful not to hurt yourself again. He's extremely strong._"

"I'll keep that in mind..." Ginger mused, giving her a quick salute.

The SOUL faded, and the botanical beast came into plain view again, that contorted grin still on his face. He said nothing, but instead launched his next attack from one of the gross-looking eyes on his fleshy face and three thistly missiles shot at her, bouncing across the battlefield. Ginger was immensely disturbed by the look of the weapons; they were like shooting green comets, but with thorns and gnashing teeth, and if she didn't avoid them, she would be bitten.

And she DIDN'T want to find out whether or not those teeth were venomous.

It was a good things they were spaced out well enough, and the tails of the missiles didn't do quite as much damage, she found out, colliding with one as it passed her by and receiving a superficial abrasion along the face.

But Flowey's attacks only got more bizarre and freakishly horrifying from there. Snapping flytraps on either side of him? A horde of giant flies that buzzed toward her? Finger bullets tipped with daisy blooms that aimed their course and fired across the blackness!? It would have sent any other warrior to their knees begging MERCY by now, only to die a horrible death at his vines. But she'd faced off against strange enemies before. And she'd faced plenty of horror before. Those two experiences combined allowed her to at least keep her sanity in check, if not be able to match him.

And now that she knew what she had to do with the SOULs when they fired up, she knew she at least had a chance against the creature.

Ginger managed to land another stab of her dagger against his thorny arm; it seemed ever-so-slightly softer there than it was the last time she dug her blade into there, and she could have sworn she saw the giant cactus of an arm flinch a bit when the sap began to spill out from the deep jab. Just when he seemed like he was about to fire up the second SOUL, he summoned yet another barrage of attacks.

Bombs.

And not just any bombs.

Flowey had FREAKING. NUKES.

And they all had his face on them, as though he was particularly proud of them.

"Oh, Glaux..." she grimaced.

He pointed them at her, and they shot out at immense speed, exploding behind her; it was a good thing that they didn't ACTUALLY give off radiation, or she would have been doomed even if she hadn't been hit by any of the booming flames. Only one of the bombs struck her, but it took her with it toward the back of the battlefield and blew itself to smithereens right on top of her in a fiery burst. She was burned practically everywhere, and had received a particularly gruesome wound on her abdomen, where the missile landed to begin with. Despite her burns, she pressed on; she wasn't about to give up just yet.

There was another swarm of the giant flies, and Ginger staggered back to her feet after dodging all but one of them to see another one of Flowey's sap vessels start flashing orange. Another SOUL was about to make its move. All she had to was call out to it and it would be free of its captor's control.

And Flowey faded into the void again as his second SOUL, an orange one, came into vision.

The SOUL of BRAVERY.

This one attacked with gloved hands that stretched out and then retracted, and they formed spinning circles across the field. The one spot the gloves couldn't reach was the very center of their formations, and she took refuge in one of them, passing through a gap in the attacks when they extended before getting a chance to speak.

_Hey...Gloves...Wait a sec..._

"Hey! You!" she called out, slipping off one of the gauntlets of her hand, wincing as the burns she'd withstood became more apparent.

The leather glove she'd gotten from the Snowdin Shop was still there, after all this time and after so many battles. It'd carried her a long way, and having been in her armor so much recently, The human had almost forgotten that she even had it. But it was there, and it could still pack just as good a punch as the day she got it.

"This yours?!"

The white gloves wavered, then turned green, and the fingers curled into thumbs up.

"_Holy moly! That's my glove! That's awesome! Where'd you find that!?_"

"Shop on Snowdin was sellin' it; traded in for an old plastic knife...That...I think might've actually belonged to PATIENCE?" Ginger surmised as she collected more of the green magic attacks. Her burns grew lesser and lesser with every impact.

"_Wow...You and I have a lot in common, you know? Hey, keep this up! Your grit 'n' BRAVERY's gonna get you through this! Show this plant guy who's boss!_"

"Will do," she promised him, tightening the glove on her hand as he faded again.

And there was Flowey, big and bad as ever. And she stared up at him with a poisonous prick in her eyes and a small smirk on her face.

"**Getting COCKY, are we?**" he bellowed. "**Well, what if I told you that you can't SAVE anymore!? You wouldn't be able to just come back on your own unless I WANTED you to! How about I give you a little DEMONSTRATION!?**"

"More like 'demon-stration.' Because that's what YOU are."

"**FOOL! IDIOT! I'm no demon! I'm something FAR WORSE.**"

He shot his vines down at her again, which she got past with another quick bolt to the side, then another barrage of Save Point bullets. It looked like she had him figured out when the vines he'd shot simply vanished, replaced with a sudden appearance of an already in-progress Save Point attack. There was a shift in the void that accompanied the assault, and Ginger suddenly realized what he was doing.

He was **Loading** new** Save** files. And returning to them to confuse her.

But she knew of the Saves and Loads just as much as he did, so she would know when he shifted back to another point in time.

Flowey was having a ball, watching the human dark about the battleground, confused and borderline disoriented by his new tactic; it'd been so long since he'd been able to do this, and it was exhilarating watching his puny opponent run aimlessly across the void trying to avoid his unexpected shifts between files.

***File 2 Loaded**

***File 2 Saved**

***File 2 Loaded**

***File 2 Saved**

It was the most fun he'd had in AGES!

At least...It was funny for a little while; now that she'd proven herself to be very evasive, he was getting more annoyed. He tried a few more shots, and another **Load**; Ginger was apparently prepared for the sudden change to Save Point bullets coming at her. How in the actual HELL did she manage to only be hit by two of them? And WHY was she so confident all of a sudden!? He was a giant, terrifying demigod of death and destruction! How was this mere mortal so...CASUAL in battling him!?

Oh, well...She wouldn't be laughing when he threw his NEXT move at her.

Little did he know of the scheming going on between two freed entities hidden within him.

The assault stopped, and another one of his sap vessels began to pulse indigo. The corresponding SOUL flashed into view.

The SOUL of INTEGRITY.

Oh, boy. The last thing she thought would have ever come to mind about now was her insane battle against Mettaton and his grossly fabulous legs. But that was exactly what the stars above her, coupled with the stomping ballet shoes approaching, reminded her of. And the last thing she wanted was to be jabbed in the face by another foot.

It was a good thing the shoes rose and fell, allowing her the opportunity to pass through them. But their movement was uneven; some of the bullets fell while others raised, and none of them seemed to be in sync with one another; a bit ironic, considering what this human apparently strived to do when she was still alive.

"Ever wanted to be a star? You'll be one in MY book if you're able to break out of there!"

She was flat out stomped on top of the head by one of the shoes.

"Hey! Damn you, anyhow! I've been hit by enough feet for one lifetime!"

As if on cue, the shoes rose higher, and stopped their attack. The row of stars that kept Ginger from jumping too high without being pelted flashed green into music notes.

"_I admit, you're a little crass...But your heart's definitely in the right place, and I uphold you for that._"

"Eh...Sorry 'bout that; gettin' kinda tired of this whole ordeal..."

As she collected the notes, the tender spot on her head began to strengthen again.

"Um...So...I'm sorry that this happened to you. Looks like you had high hopes for the future."

"_It's not as bad as you might think. All I can say to you is that you were very wise to be wary of Undyne._"

"Did...Is she the one who-"

"_Simply put? Yes. And I'm glad you were able to coax her out of the idea. You've developed a greater sense of INTEGRITY since your arrival._"

"How do you know all this?"

"_We share Flowey's memories. But I don't have time to explain. I can feel it, he's about to-_"

The SOUL was cut off, and the creature appeared again.

"**Getting tired yet?**"

"I'm just warming up."

"**Funny...So am I!**"

Flowey started up the Save Point bullets again; easy to get by. Then his friendliness pellets; also easy. What was he talking about? Unless, of course, he was only starting off easy in order to catch her off-

His thistle missiles started bouncing across the field again; okay, a bit unexpected, but Ginger knew how to handle these as well. And then came the flies. Oh, the flies were easy; all they did was fly in straight lines toward the open flytrap that'd grown out of one of the beast's cactus arms. The only concern was the sheer number of them that'd been summoned, and it was a bit hard to get out of one's way without moving into the path of another.

Then the bombs. She absolutely DESPISED those Flowey bombs, and gave it everything she had to just avoid being struck by one. The tips of the flames that burst out from behind licked her, and she received smaller burns along the back; nothing major. It looked like he'd become predictable enough for her to avoid most of his moves; hadn't he ever heard of the element of surprise?

He shot out two more series of his thorny vines before the fourth sap vessel began to pulse a sickening purple, and the bright violet SOUL emerged from its confines.

The SOUL of PERSEVERANCE.

In Flowey's place there appeared two columns of books, and from within their pages, the bullets emerged.

And they were actually sort of depressing to behold.

They were words; words that conjured negative thoughts. They came at her from the sides, and she ducked and jumped over them, some coming from a greater height than others. Sadness. Cruelty. Hatred. Despair. Slaughter. These were only a handful of things the white magic spelled out in bold letters. And if she lost, all of these things would come raining down upon civilization from Flowey's evil green hand.

"It's not gonna happen if we stop it first! Come on! Snap out of it!"

She was answered; the white magic wavered, and now, from out of the pages of the books, came green words. Relief. Kindness. Love. Hope. Dreams. The SOUL of the once-living human was now convinced of a brighter future.

"_It's not pleasant being trapped in this verdant abomination. You have my gratitude._"

"Are...You the one who gave his things to Gerson? I kinda recognize the notebook."

"_You're acquainted with Gerson? I enjoyed his company...but not his refreshments. Does he still have those?_"

"He, uh...gave them to a friend of mine, since he's not sure how much longer he'll be around to keep 'em safe. But don't worry; they're in good hands. I should know."

"_I'm satisfied by that. Keep up the battle, friend. Through your PERSEVERANCE, we may witness the light of day yet._"

"I got two left to help out. And I think Flowey's getting weaker."

"_Excellent. Now, turn those hopeful words into a reality._"

The purple SOUL vanished, and the beast appeared yet again. Ginger noted that his arms looked a bit less...stiff and hard now. His defenses were weakening with every SOUL she rescued from his clutches. When she got all six, she might be able to go all out.

But Flowey wasn't about to make it easy for her; he knew just how much she was thrown off by his **Save** and** Load** attack. Yes, she'd gotten used to it the first wave, but she wouldn't be expecting him to try it again so soon, for sure! Besides, as quick as it'd gotten boring, he wanted to see if he had better luck this time around.

The Save Point bullets and thorny vines shooting down at her came, disappeared, and then reappeared mid-attack. Any other opponent would have been dead by now, but no other warrior they knew of had any experience with **Saving** and **Loading** under their belt. The bullets spread out, and the vines shot downward like whips, proving to be more successful against Ginger than the bullets, as quite a few of them smote her, the impacts leaving bruises and the thorns leaving jab wounds, cutting through the leather and piercing her human flesh.

Even so, the cursed human just. Wouldn't. DIE. How determined WAS this idiot!?

Deciding not to hold off his next big attack, he stopped the **Loading** and **Saving**, and fired up another one of the sap vessels where the SOULs were all held. This one flashed green, and when the monstrous creature retreated from view, the fifth SOUL took his place.

The SOUL of KINDNESS.

Ginger looked up at the attack it was forming.

Frying pans. And they spewed out flames, which came falling towards her. She was surprised at how spread out most of Flowey's attacks were; wasn't he trying to KILL her? He was making it a lot easier for her than she expected him to; was he just toying with her? Keeping himself entertained WHILE he made her suffer, just to see how long she could last against him? The sick bastard...

"Hey! How 'bout you use those pans to cook this flower instead!? Get on out of there! Come on!"

The flamed flickered, then faded, then stopped flying out of the pans altogether, now replaced with green magic in the shape of...

Eggs.

She...had actually gotten a bit more used to the idea of humans and monsters cooking eggs, despite having hatched from one herself. Besides, they were CHICKEN eggs, not those of an owl. And because of that, they likely never contained any chicks to begin with, so she collected them as they fell without much hesitation.

"So, KINDNESS. How often did you make these, huh?"

"_I made them a lot on the surface,_" the green SOUL answered her. "_We had sort of a mini farm, and I used to make them for people who weren't as well-off as us. Where I'm from, a__ little KINDNESS goes a long way._"

"Yeah...I'm, uh...not the strongest in that field, sorry to say."

"_You've gotten better than you were. I can say that._"

"Well...If you say so, KINDNESS."

"_Erm...We DO have names, though. Besides the traits._"

"Oh. Sorry..."

"_It's okay; you wouldn't have known._"

"So, then...What ARE your names?"

"_Adeline, Owen, Noria, Hank...And I'm Liz._"

"Isn't there one left?"

"_Oh, boy...Dennis is a card. He's always telling us crazy stories about fighting off bandits with his pistol and how he wanted to be a police-_"

"Wait. His WHAT?"

"_You'll find out here in a minute! Flowey's about to-_"

She faded from view, and once again, the young fighter was going head-to-head with Flowey.

Ginger had most, if not all of his deranged attack methods figured out by now; She dodged the thistle missiles, then the friendliness pellets, and then ducked and slid under the two flamethrowers he fired from side to side. Ginger had yet to see anything new, which was further proven by the Save Point bullets and Flowey nukes that followed suit. As the deranged creature began to strike his vines down again, the warrior came within close quarters, and actually managed to land a good, strong cut of her blade against his four-eyed abomination of a face, and the liquid that spurted from it was a disgusting mix of white AND red, almost like blood mixed in with the sap. Seeing how close she was to him with him, Flowey went in to launch his vines, seeing how quickly they would land, but he failed to fire before the human flung the cloak she still wore over his hideous face, staining the dark fabric red and white. Despite not all of them landing, as his aim was obscured, a good six of them knocked the human back with their barbed ends, the metal of her armor becoming scratched and the leather tearing apart. Once she saw just how badly damaged her gear was, she practically flailed across the entire battleground to stay out of their way. Even if she COULD predict the gist of his attacks for the most part now, he was still quick, and she was running out of energy herself.

The last of his sap vessels began to pulse, and it flashed a bright shade of yellow before the SOUL appeared.

The SOUL of JUSTICE.

What was his name? Dennis? And how was he-

"Oh, no..." she uttered, her eyes widening in fear at the weapon formed.

It was a pistol, fashioned after the very one that Bratty and Catty had for sale, along with that hat. Red target marks flashed across the field, and the barrel rotated all over the place as it aimed at them, firing the white bullets. THIS gun definitely wasn't empty.

And it didn't help that she had a genuine FEAR of these manmade weapons, knowing just how powerful they could be in the wrong hands. Ginger was so busy trying to keep herself from panicking that she was barely able to avoid being shot at.

But when one of the literal bullets finally did make its mark, shooting a bit too close to her and speeding across her arm, she had a near heart attack...Until she realized that it didn't do NEAR as much damage as she expected. Ginger rolled her eyes at herself; these were MAGIC entities, not physical. There was only so much they could do.

She continued ducking beside and under the projectiles as they kept at it, careful to avoid standing in the line of the barrel and the targets, before calling out.

"Hey! Why don't you break on out of there and tell me! Just how many vermin did you use this thing on!?"

She heard an excited gasp from the entity, and then the gun began to fire...what looked like green clover instead of bullets for her to collect.

"_SOOOO-EY! You kiddin' me!? Raccoons, badgers, hogs, you name it! Whenever they went on after our chickens, I went 'n' showed them pesky critters what for! Heh! Works great on people, too! 'Course, never did use it on someone unless they was just crazy 'nuff t' eat the devil with his horns on 'n' askin' for it. Human and fish alike. O' course... the fish is what GOT me here like this, must say._"

"Undyne did you in too, huh? Knew she was a rotten egg."

"_Hey, she's a better shot at least than this hulkin' prickly-pear puck, I give 'er that! Besides, she seemed a lot like myself, gotta say; always tryin' to do what was right for the monsters here and not stoppin' till she did. 'S why I wanted t' be a boy in blue one day. Admit'ly, she's kinda mixed up, but it's her duty to her people! And speakin' o' duty... It's time we bring this guy to JUSTICE!_"

The gun dissipated, and the five other SOULs appeared alongside the yellow one, approaching the living human and circling around her. Their signature healing bullets began to come out of them towards her, and she absorbed every last one.

"_It's not long now. Without our extra aid, his defenses will all plummet._"

"_Knew you had the guts! Now without us completely under his control, his body's gonna go soft!_"

"_You've done the right thing. Now, let us work together to save this world._"

"_His form has begun the destabilization process. Now all you have to do is dissemble him._"

"_Everyone on earth, both good and bad, is depending on us to save them. We can't let them down now!_"

"_Come on, pardners! Make him say 'uncle'! Y'all with me!?_"

"Let's finish this once and for all," Ginger sneered as the beast came back into view. His defense had fallen down to zero.

"Flowey...I'm gonna kick your _grass._"

He paid her no mind, instead launching out his Save Point bullets. They were going painstakingly slower than usual, and were now ever easier to weave past, allowing Ginger to draw in for another attack of her own and land another slash across his face, spilling out the red and white liquid that flowed through his veins. He didn't stop; in fact, the beast only continued to send them out, barely aware of what was really going on, he was in such a delirious state of murder-happy madness. And mixed in with the white bullets were green ones, and ach of the six shapes were signature to the ones she'd seen them give her when they were freed. She swung her knife again as she dodged the bullets, this time along the thin part of his thorny arm; she nearly cut through half of it, and sap came spurting out. She kept at it; dodge, slice, heal, dodge, slice, heal, then dodge, slice, and heal again. With each blow the human landed, the stronger they got, and the deeper they cut, and the more fluid the evil spawn of hagsmire spilled out.

He was getting weaker every second.

Finally the white bullets ceased, and Flowey summoned his finger guns. Ginger didn't like the finger guns; they were difficult to dodge all the way, but the good news was that they typically didn't come too close to his face, so she saw her chance to sprint at him through the fire, and began her close combat with him, running her blade up right up his arm, and then across one of the thick, thorny vines extending from his center before finally landing it right in one of his eyes. The living nightmare bellowed in agony, and continued to assault her with a barrage of flies, and then his thistle missiles, his stabbed eye emitting white fluid mixed with black goop. All the while, the green bullets from the SOULs kept coming down to help her, and whatever damage she did take was easily, instantly healed. A strike from a fly? Healed by a bandage. A scrape from a thistle? An egg did her some good. A cut along Flowey's other arm, nearly chopping it off entirely as more fluids began to pour out all over the void? There was no green magic going to him. He just kept losing more of his immense strength. Ginger kept at it.

He summoned his flies again; she sliced off the flytrap luring them in, and the buzzing insects dissipated.

He tried his bombs; she managed to make him aim one of them at his arm where she stood instead, and the thorny plant flesh went up in flames.

He tried his vines; with every one that came down, she sliced at them. Even the ones that struck her weren't safe from her blade.

And then she went after the pulsing veins that'd contained the SOULs. The Save Point bullets started up again, and she weaved around the field to get back up to his face. All Ginger had to do was shove the tip of her blade into one of them, and the leftover energy began to pour out. Then with them already weakened, she could slice the dagger across them and send them flailing, helplessly trying to reassemble.

Flowey's cries of pain grew louder and more desperate the more damage he took on. He was nearly blinded, all but one of his eyes having been punctured and drained, and he could barely aim his vines or flamethrowers anymore. His arms threatened to fall clean off, his sap vessels were all sliced in two and bleeding out, and his already hideous face had become even more horribly disfigured by the damage dealt.

Finally, the human plunged her dagger right into the center of his face, and his entire, pulsing, flailing, gnashing form froze as he emitted one more agonized gag of a noise.

He was out of health.

She'd done it.

And then, the creature began to shake violently, and the noise that erupted from within him made him seem ready to explode.

"**No...NO!**" Flowey screamed. "**This CAN'T be happening! You...YOU...!**"

"Hasta la vista, weedy!"

Ginger smiled in spite of the potential danger of an explosion, and she ducked and covered.

And then, there was a shift in the void, and the rumbling suddenly stopped.

"**You IDIOT.**"

"...What."

She rose her head again. Flowey's enormous, battered, torn, bleeding, pulsing form...

Had completely healed.

The shift she felt in the void. He'd...He'd...

He'd **LOADED** right back to the very beginning of the fight!

"...No..."

She was petrified with horror. So much so that she didn't even notice the white light firing up in his mandibles.

And then, all of a sudden, she was engulfed in a white hot beam, hotter than the core of the sun itself, and was reduced to nothing but a pile of charred bones.

And then, all of a sudden, she was back to normal. Ginger gagged out a gasp for breath, her heart still barely beating.

And then it stopped again, as another array of his vines shot at her and passed right through the chest, tearing everything in its way out completely.

Then she was normal again. Then burned alive, then impaled, then burned again, gored, burned, gored, burned, gored, burned, gored, burned, gored.

To him it was a hay day. To the human, it was hell, dying a horrible, painful, gruesome death over and over again with every time he reloaded his file.

Finally, he sent the vines shooting everywhere EXCEPT right at her vitals, penetrating her arms, shoulders, legs, and right along her ribcage. Her armor, having gone back to a better condition with the rewind of time, was in shambles within seconds, and in her trauma, both physical and mental, its wearer still could barely manage to breathe, let alone listen to what the creature was now saying as he surrounded her with one last array of friendliness pellets to finish her off; a sick callback to their first encounter.

"**Hee hee hee...Did you HONESTLY think you could ACTUALLY defeat** **me!?**" Flowey taunted, still wearing that contorted grin on his face. "**I am practically the GOD of this world. And you? You're HOPELESS. HOPELESS AND ALONE.**"

"No..." she croaked, her vital fluid spilling out of every limb and both her sides. "I...can't..."

"**But golly gosh, it can! Your worthless FRIENDS can't save you now. Call out for help, if you even have the strength left. I DARE you. Cry into the darkness! 'Mommy! Daddy! Somebody help me!' SEE WHAT GOOD IT DOES YOU, YOU DYING, MORTAL FOOL!**"

She convulsed as she drew in a breath, almost certain it'd be her last one. But the young human wasn't about to let one last attempt go to waste.

"Help...! Somebody help...!" she gasped, practically sounding like she was about to vomit.

And she waited.

...

...

...

***But nobody came.**

"**Ha...Oh, boy. What a shame!**" the flowery beast fake-lamented. "**Nobody else IS GONNA GET TO SEE YOU _DIE!_**"

Another hellish cackle roared out across the dark void, and the pellets honed in onto their target. It was over. She was done.

She'd lost.

They'd all lost.

...

...

...

_...What's the hold up?_

All of a sudden, Ginger's pain dissipated.

_What...?_

Had she died? Had she become nothing but a SOUL? She didn't...FEEL dead.

Slowly and shakily, she rose to her feet...Her armor was back to the way it was. The blood was gone. The holes had been mended.

...She'd been healed.

But...how?

"**What?**"

Flowey was just as confused as her.

"**How'd you...? Ha...Well...Not a problem for me! I'll just Reload my...**"

***Load Failed**

All of a sudden, Flowey started to look a bit...sweaty.

"**Wh...Where are my powers? What's going on...?**"

He got his answer right then and there.

Around him appeared the six human SOULs that'd first fought alongside the plant to destroy the living human, then befriended her when they'd been reached out to.

Adeline. Owen. Noria. Hank. Liz. Dennis. They were all here.

A smile inched across Ginger's face; her cry for help HAD been answered.

"**The SOULs? What...What are they doing?**"

And that was when Ginger gave them a command of her own.

"Fellas! MAKE 'EM YELL 'UNCLE'!"

Lights blared.

The ground shook.

Flowey's panicked screams rang out across the void.

"**NO! NOOOO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO OBEY ME! STOP! STOP IT! STOOOOOOOOOOOP!**"

Everything whited out, and the young human shielded her eyes with the cloak that'd returned to her shoulders.

And then, everything stilled.

Everything was calm.

Finally, Ginger opened her eyes.

...She...she was back.

Back in the room the Barrier once stood in. But when she looked behind her...

She found that the Barrier was now BEHIND her, and nothing now stood in the way of her and the exit cave.

Except...

Flowey.

His tiny, tattered form hunched over before her, helpless and defeated.

But she took no pity on him. It didn't matter how terrible he looked. As long as Flowey was alive, he posed a danger. As long as he was still alive, he could collect six MORE human SOULs, and use them to threaten the destruction of the entire earth once again.

She held fast onto the handle of the worn dagger, looking up and down the blade.

_Perfect for cutting through plants and vines._

She drew it back, stooped down to reach the flower, then swung the blade across his stem.

Flowey's tattered head fell to the ground. He foamed at the mouth, and a twisted grin stretched across his face as he emitted his last words in a sick snarl.

"I **KNEW** you had it in you...!"

Then, his face twitched, and then, it faded into white, disappearing completely.

Now, all that Ginger looked down at was a deadheaded flower, soon to turn brown and wither into nothing.

Flowey was dead.

She looked behind her; she could still see beyond the Barrier behind her.

And then her eyes widened at the sight of what sat there, just on the other side.

Asgore's dust sat in a pile on the ground, nothing left of him except his crown, sat atop the white powder.

The human heaved out a grievous sigh. Asgore was gone, too. There was no way she could go back into the Underground now, with him deceased.

And ESPECIALLY with her being partially responsible for it.

There was only one place she could go.

Out the cave.

Ginger approached the light at the end of the tunnel. The outside world came into view more and more the closer she got.

Then, finally, after a week of waiting, she stepped out of the cave and planted her feet on the surface ground, warmed by the late afternoon sun shining down on her.

The mouth of the cave was along a small cliff on the mountain's side, closer to the top. One could easily jump off of it and walk the rest of the way down the grassy slope. The view from there was quite nice, as well. She could see for a good distance over all of the beautiful red and gold autumn trees, a few green pines mixed in. The white clouds rolled along in the winds above the earth, and for the first time in what felt like years, she drew in a sweet, crisp breath of the outside forest air.

She was finally free.

...But she was still a human.

"D-don't panic..." Ginger said to herself aloud. "Maybe...Maybe the effects of the Barrier just...haven't worn off yet? Yeah...I still might turn back to the way I was. All I have to do is wait a while and see what happens. A-and once I'm back to normal, I'll be..."

She faltered for a moment.

"I'll be able to go back home to the Pure Ones."

She began her descent toward the woodline, the shade of the trees beckoning her to shelter herself beneath them to get out of the blinding sunlight.

For now, it was the only thing she really COULD do while she waited.

And wait she did.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...Something's happened."

"What?"

Metal Beak sensed an oddity in the atmosphere. He'd felt a couple of strange shifts over the past few hours, and what exactly had caused it was a mystery to him.

But there was one thing his gizzard told him that was definitely certain.

"...Nyra, round up the scouts and assemble the squadron head, then call role. We're packing it up and going out."

"Sir, it's barely been another day, what do you-"

"She's not coming back."

There was a silence between the two mates; too long a silence, and Nyra squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then deflated.

"...You're quite certain?"

"I am."

"Is...Is she..."

"I can't tell. Something in the air is making my gizzuition go...everywhere. All I can get from it is that she's not coming back. Dead or alive, whatever the case may be. Now... Go round up the Pure Ones. All of them. And cross the young general's name from the list. And all the others, once we return to the Beaks."

"...Yes, my Lord."

The Ablah General turned to follow orders.

"And one more thing."

She faced him again, and there was a flicker of empathy in his good eye.

"Don't take any of this the wrong way...I saw her in the same light you did."

Nyra sighed deeply.

"...Thank you, my love."

And then she spread her red-tipped wings and took to the skies to gather the other soldiers.

Once she was gone, the High Tyto drew in a breath, then emitted a loud, echoing, plaintive screech, mourning the loss of a good, loyal soldier.

* * *

**A.N.: Hey, sorry 'bout the lack of Author's Notes down here for a few chapters; didn't wanna ruin the grim mood with my shenanigans. XD**

**But now that things are finally looking up...sort of...I can! From here on out, not all of the chapters will have these little commentary snippets at the bottom, usually when the chapter ends on a sad/serious note, so that when you finish a chapter and acknowledge how grim the situation is for the characters, you aren't met with this nonsense that ruins the feel. XD**

**Also, yes, blah blah blah, the SOULs don't speak directly to the player, blah blah blah, we don't know their names. Blah blah blah.**

**It's FANFICTION.**

**I can do what I want with the characters. Besides, it makes the SOULs of the kids a bit more relatable imo.**

**Hey, thanks again for reading! Next chapter's gonna be here sooner than you might expect! :D**


	33. Chapter 31: Choices Matter

Days passed.

Those days turned to weeks.

And those weeks became a solid month, and then some.

Nothing changed. The curse the Barrier had inflicted upon her still held fast.

She was still a human.

And with each passing day, she lost more and more hope that she would ever be her old self again. And having been waiting in the wilderness for so long, there wasn't much she could think to do except what she'd been doing inside Mount Ebott all that time; adapt.

Ginger fired one of her last remaining arrows, striking her target right through the heart. The doe fell instantly; she never knew what had hit her.

The Huntress emerged from the bushes to claim her prize. It was a decent-enough sized deer; not too big. Just enough to get her through another two weeks. She dragged her back towards her camp to clean it, and her nose wrinkled at the thought. She could never get used to the smell of half-digested browse mixed with sulfur and methane escaping. It almost wasn't worth her effort.

Nothing was worth much of anything anymore. The only reason she even bothered to keep at it was because of the stretched out hope that one day, things might finally start changing for the better. That she might wake up from this nightmare and find herself an owl again...

...No, that wasn't just it. It was her **DETERMINATION**. It had to be. She just had too much of a will to live to give up.

But the life she was so desperate to hold onto wasn't much to be fighting for. By now, all of the Pure Ones had to have left. And even if they hadn't, even if they did find her, they wouldn't recognize her. And the animals she could have once spoken to; the foxes, the wolves, the bears, the badgers, even the rowdy coyotes...They all posed a danger to her now, even if she hadn't had a risky encounter yet. To them, she was nothing more than an intruder in their forest home. She didn't belong.

And there was no way she was going to try to tell them she knew their big secret; that would be a death sentence.

Every so often, Ginger saw an owl fly over head while she laid down on the ground, stargazing. She was tempted to call out to it, but she knew that when it saw her, it would just fly away.

Stargazing was one of the only comforts she got out of this pathetic excuse for a life anymore, but to her, it was good enough. There was just something about looking up at the countless sparkling constellations that made her forget all of her woes. The stars had that effect on her; putting her in a state of content calm.

She sighed thinking about it, absentmindedly slitting open the deer's abdomen; the monsters would have loved seeing the stars.

And now they might never get the chance.

And even if, by some act of Glaux, they did find a way out of the mountain soon, they wouldn't be able to stargaze this time of year. December had just started; winter was fast approaching, and it was only growing colder and cloudier. Soon, not even the moon would be visible through the thick snow clouds. And it wasn't a welcoming chill like Snowdin. This was an intense and draining cold. Not even the furry folk of that little town would find it pleasant.

A town...she wished she wasn't lonely like this. She wish she at least had a place like Snowdin to stay, like where the skeleton brothers lived, and Grillby's was, and...

She stopped gutting her would-be dinner and bolted upright with an idea.

"...That's exactly what I'll do."

She would leave her camp and venture into the mysterious realm that was human society. She would just keep walking in one direction until she found a town, or at least something resembling one. Humans were all over this earth; how hard would it be to find them? It might take some time to adjust, but...

If she couldn't get things back to the way they once were, maybe she could start something new.

It was decided; tomorrow, she would start her trek into human society and establish a new life for herself. So, with that in mind, she went back to cleaning her-

"What-!?"

A red fox-that same troublesome vixen that had been stealing bits of her prized meat for over two weeks, now-was munching away at the inside of the deer's leg, ruining the cut. She rose her dagger, ready to finally teach this damned thief a lesson...but then she hesitated.

The fox looked...round in the middle. It shrank at the sight of the dagger and backed away from the deer. Suddenly, Ginger realized why this fox had been stealing her kills instead of hunting for herself. It was because she wasn't able to hunt the way she normally did.

Because she was carrying pups.

She dropped her weapon; killing the vixen would be an ultimate betrayal of the Grosnik Code.

"...You know what?" she said to the animal, her fury fading. "...Take it. Just...Let me have the other leg and you can keep that one."

The mother fox looked up at the human curiously as she took the dagger and cut out the meat of the untouched leg.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, anyway. As soon as I'm done here you can have however much you want."

She didn't bother gutting the doe; she wasn't going to be back for it, so she might as well just take what she had to and leave; just the hindquarter and backstraps were good enough. She just had to skin those parts first. Besides, the buzzards and likewise would have something to munch on.

"...You're gonna be a mama, huh?" she remarked, the vixen still standing and watching, not far from her. "How many? Four? Five? How much longer do you think it'll be?"

It was odd, trying to strike up a friendly conversation with the fox she had been cursing at for so long when she tried to sneak some of her precious meat...Toriel had taught her this to begin with, and now it threatened to become a habit.

"Who's the pop? Must be a handsome tod, I'm thinking."

She knew the fox wouldn't answer a human, but it looked like she was at least listening.

"...You know," she added. "You're just about the reddest fox I've ever seen...Maybe all the meat you got away with added to that?"

She finished with a bit of a chuckle.

"No, but really. It's a nice coat. Almost scarlet, it looks like. Take pride in it; I would. But stay away from hunters, they might think it'd be a nice wall decoration. Heh..."

How ironic that warning was, coming from the Huntress herself. Ginger finished cutting out the parts of the doe she wanted and stood back up.

"Well, that's that. It's all yours."

She went over to her pit and started up a fire with the flintstone she'd collected, the wood and leaves already in it serving as fuel. She skewered all four of the cuts onto a nearby branch and held it over the flame before turning back to the rest of the deer to see if the fox was still there.

Indeed she was, tearing at the leg of the deer she'd already started on, though she still kept her eye on the human.

"So, one time, this guy took me over to his friend's house," she said to the vixen. "And his friend, uh...She sort of has this thing she hates about...people like me. And the guy already knew that, so he wanted to see if he could fix that. Apparently, his plan was to formally introduce me to her, jump out the window and let nature take its course  
...Classy, right?"

The animal cocked her head; she seemed eager to know more.

"So, get this; before I went to her house, she tried to straight-up murder me, like, what? Four times? Maybe more than that, I don't remember...But anyway, it was just me and her, and things were pretty tense. When she tried to kick me out of her house, though, the guy came back and said through the window, 'I GUESS I OVERESTIMATED HER. SHE'S NOT UP FOR THE CHALLENGE OF BEING FRIENDS WITH HER.'"

She tried to keep a straight face while imitating Papyrus's ridiculous voice.

"Now THAT was when things went nuts. She was all 'Oh, can I getcha somethin' to drink?'" She wrinkled her upper lip to expose the front teeth; a mocking impression of Undyne's hideous overbite, complete with a tightly closed left eye. "But at the same time, she was throwing spears and I was handing out the comebacks. It seems the tongue is indeed mightier than the sword...or the spear. Or both, actually. In the end, things really went up in flames...No, really; we set her house on fire by accident."

The vixen looked very perplexed by the story, but nonetheless intrigued.

"But by and by, I guess you could say things turned out for the better. We still hate each other's guts, but hey; at least she's not stalking me through the shadows trying to steal my SOUL by throwing a crap-ton of spears at me anymore. From then on, the only things we threw at each other were insults. Heh heh..."

She sighed thinking about it.

"...I miss those days...Now I'm not so sure I'll ever see any of them again. I can't go back after I...Wonder what they're all up to?"

Ginger looked up at her meat; it was done, so she stored it away in the plastic container that had once held Papyrus's spaghetti; the pasta had long since been finished off.

"Well, I'm turning in," she finished, watching what was left of her fire begin to smolder. "Good night."

The young human headed over to her round bed of leaves and pine branches, the strange plush toy she'd scavenged from the dump so long ago, the odd fox-rabbit hybrid thing, sat atop it; for several weeks, this was the closest thing she could manage to a bed. She had at least succeeded in making it comfortable, and the plush served as a sort of comfort item. She cherished it as a relic from the days gone by, and was surprised with herself that she'd nearly forgotten all about it.

Besides, it was...kind of cute, anyway, whatever it was.

Ginger settled into the branches, wrapped the cloak tightly around herself to keep the cold at bay and held that stuffed animal like her life depended on it. It was strange; the scurrying sound of the fox running away did not come to her before sleep did. The last thing she was able to process before letting her mind succumb to the realm of dreams was a mental image of a familiar-looking statue.

* * *

_..._

* * *

She awoke to an oddly familiar sensation on her face. Ginger groaned as she opened her heavy eyes; judging by the light she could make out, it was only just dawn.

When her vision finally cleared, the human was met with the sight of the vixen pressing her wet nose against her cheek and licking it, and she sprang upright in shock. This definitely wasn't what she expected to wake up to first thing in the morning.

The red fox wagged her tail upon seeing her awake.

"Did you do that on purpose?"

The animal leapt about as best one could while carrying a litter.

"Oh, I get it; you want me to have plenty of daylight for my little trip, is that it?"

She nodded.

...She _NODDED_.

It was some form of communication, and that, the human could appreciate.

She didn't let the fox's intentions go to waste; she readied her messenger bag, making sure she had everything; her items, her sweater, her armor...Everything was where it should have been. Finally, she straightened her cloak and started walking southwest. She decided she would head that way and see what she came across; hopefully, she'd find a suitable town by the time winter was set in stone.

Ginger looked back one last time at her little camp; she wouldn't miss it much, but for a while, it was her home. The fox was sitting down in the nest she'd been using, her black ears perked and her big, blue eyes giving off an almost forlorn glint.

"I wish you the best of luck," she said to the scarlet vixen, and she began walking deeper into the unknown.

"And to you as well."

Ginger's eyes widened, and she turned her head just in time to see the fox's tongue retreat back into her mouth. She'd actually...

The human smiled, and gave an understanding nod. And as soon as she did, the creature turned tail and disappeared into the opposite direction of the woods.

Ginger went on her way, smiling all the while; since the start of her solitary living, she'd come to appreciate the little things in life. The warmth of the sun during the day, the delicious taste of tender venison cooked over an open flame, the beauty of the stars and the moon at night, the hauntingly beautiful song of the winter wind whistling through the pine branches...

These were all things the monsters of Mount Ebott had yet to experience. The underground air currents of Snowdin whistled very lightly through the pine trees; they did not produce an intense, otherworldly howl like the ones on the surface. One had to hear these winds for themselves to really know what it was like; it could not be described in words.

Another gust of wind cut through the trees, and Ginger wrapped her cloak tighter around herself to keep the cold, December air from breaching to her skin. The sooner she found a human civilization, the better. So she picked up her pace, turning her slow trudge into a brisk walk; it would keep her blood flowing, her mind sharp and her journey quicker.

She whistled as she went, and she decided to test her skills to give herself something to do. The call of a quail sounded somewhere in the distance, and out of curiosity, she tried to replicate its cry.

"_Bob...Bob-WHITE,_" the bird whistled. And Ginger answered it back each and every time she heard the sound.

"_Bob-WHITE,_" the two whistlers called out, neither seeing the other, and eventually, neither knew who was copying who.

She was an Echo Flower to that bird, repeating the last thing it said over and over again.

"_Bob-WHITE. Bob...Bob...Bob-WHITE._"

And then she heard a new noise; the somewhat trilling call of a thrasher. She whistled back to it, trying to imitate the swift change of tone the bird's voice made so easily.

It was harder to copy than the two-note call of a bobwhite, but she was able to make a decent enough impression.

And then came the chipper sing-song of a robin sitting somewhere in the treetops. She chippered back, and the bird stopped its singing. Ginger heard the sound of a few leaves rustling in the trees above, and upon looking up, she saw the red-breasted bird fly just underneath the leaves of the trees and into another one somewhere behind her.

She hoped she hadn't scared it off.

Ginger felt something wet on her nose; for a moment, she felt a bit of deja vu. She looked up to find that there was a small flurry of frozen flakes fluttering down from above the treetops, descending from the grey-white sky above. It was snowing. And it was likely that it would pick up soon.

She almost wished that she'd see Papyrus standing up ahead, waiting to battle her.

The human kept walking, reverting back to whistling out that tune the music box played. That song had a strange effect on people, it seemed; it had that effect of bringing back memories, no matter how distant, and making their bearers reflect on their past. That song had made her smile. It had made her laugh. It had made her cry. But most of all, it had made her remember.

And it filled her with **DETERMINATION**.

* * *

_..._

* * *

It was the thin sliver of time between late afternoon and early evening, and while the snow was still falling, the sun was trying to poke through the white sheet of clouds overhead. Above them, the light of the sky was softening, and considering the time of year, it wouldn't be log until it turned to dusk; the days were always shorter during the later parts of the year.

Ginger was about ready to fall over; her legs had never had such a demanding workout. She'd been walking almost nonstop the entire day, and not slowly, either, only stopping to take out a piece of meat to refuel herself, and even so, she kept on walking even as she ate. She needed to stop, and stop she would as soon as she found a suitable place to roost. Plus, the blanket of snow that had accumulated on the ground was making it harder to save her strength; she had to lift her legs higher and take longer strides just to keep herself at a normal pace, and the expenditure of energy was not helping.

She saw a break in the land just up ahead, and the trees thinned, allowing her to see more of what was ahead. The human found herself peering down a small cliff.

And there, staring her right in the face, was a small village, snugly nestled among the vast wilderness of the mountain forest.

"Hot DOG...!"

She slid down the slope of the cliff eagerly, and she approached the civilization. It wasn't a big town, but it was up-to-date and bustling, which was good enough for her. She caught sight of a wooden welcome sign just ahead along the right side of the path.

"**EBOTT VILLAGE**

**Population: 143**"

She stepped into the village to take everything in. There were a few rows of houses in one direction, and a stretch of stores in the other. Almost all of the buildings were finely trimmed with differently colored lights, pine wreaths, holly sprigs, and other such decorations.

Christmas decorations. It wouldn't be long now until then.

She kicked up some snow as she went on and put down the hood of her cloak to reveal an eager smile.

The other humans took notice of her as she walked by. Some just gave her a quick glance, then minded their own business again. Some stopped and gave her dark, dirty cloak an odd look, wondering where she was from and what she'd been doing with herself. A few seemed to whisper amongst themselves, knowing she was foreign to the village. Ginger noticed some of these things, and was careful not to make eye contact with any of them.

Was this how Alphys felt about people? Always afraid they would be looking down on her? Finding something about her they didn't like? Being judgmental?

Ginger had sympathized with her on this, but it was only now that she could truly EMPATHIZE.

"...Wonder what's she's doing now," she mumbled to herself; she wished they'd departed on a better note. "...Hope she's alright...Hope they're all alright..."

She looked up the path ahead, which lead into the center of the village.

And she blinked, almost certain that her eyes were deceiving her. Nestled within the snow, still lively, even in these harsh conditions, there sat...

Was that a bed of...Golden Flowers? Growing around that archaic public fountain? She quickened her gait again until she was there.

These were most DEFINITELY Golden Flowers. Just like the ones growing in the Ruins, and just outside the Trash Zone, and...in the Throne Room.

_Asgore..._

She felt the sensation of a tear pricking in the far corner of her eye at the thought of the fallen king. She'd nearly killed Asgore, and just when it seemed like they would be able to make things right, his last hope for his future had been stolen from him by the wretched Flowey. That evil, evil spawn...At least HE was dead now, too. He would never harm anyone ever again.

Ginger saw that there was a stone plaque positioned on the fountain, with writing inscribed beneath an image. She took a look at it.

And froze.

It was almost exactly like the illustration in Waterfall; a creature not unlike a Boss Monster, being assaulted by a gang of angry humans. She read the text beneath the image.

"**TALE OF THE WHITE BEAST**"

"**Only a year after the founding of Ebott Village, there rose a creature from the northeast, from the direction of  
the mountain our town derives its name from. Witnesses say it was a humanoid being with the head of a ****goat  
****and the eyes of a demon, and it carried the body of a small child onto the bed of Golden Flowers growing here  
in the center of the village. When some drew near, the beast summoned a great glowing saber from thin air, and  
threatened to attack. However, despite its malicious intent, the beast was slow and clumsy, seeming to falter  
every few seconds. Many of the brave townspeople banded together and went up in arms against the demon,  
and some took the opportunity to tend to the child, only to find it dead. When the attack finally ended, the beast  
was wounded in every possible way; shot by bullets, sliced by blades, skewered by pitchforks and beaten by  
fists. But the creature didn't die; instead, it scooped up the body of the child and limped back into the woods  
from which it came. The fountain you see today was constructed in honor of the deceased child, whoever they may  
have been. Several attendees claim that they even saw the beast smile before turning away; some say it was  
malicious, others describe it as genuine and forgiving. Many outsiders have come to speculate the validity  
of the tale, but many were there, and many know all too well what they saw and what they fought against. The  
intentions and origins of the strange creature are unknown; some say that it was one of the monsters that locals  
claimed were trapped underneath Mount Ebott. Others say it was a creature sent by Satan himself to wreak  
havoc on the village. Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: even before the construction of the  
****fountain ****among them, the Golden Flowers seem to have grown duller and weaker since then.**"

"...Ignorance..." she growled to herself.

SHE knew more than they did. The white beast was Asriel, Toriel and Asgore's only biological child; the human was the one that fell through the mountain and fell ill. All Asriel was doing was granting her last request. The saber he'd summoned...perhaps to defend himself from the attackers? They didn't interpret his means of defense very well, it seemed...In the end, the prince had stumbled back into the castle, and the reward he received from granting his sister's last request was death.

That poor, poor monster...All of them, really.

She pulled out her phone to check; she wanted to see if she could find anything that would put her mind at ease. The thing's battery was only at 6%, now, but it probably would have been long dead had she decided to use it at all within the past month and a half. It didn't matter anyway; everything on it was probably gone. She wouldn't be able to connect to Undernet from here, she couldn't call or text them from the surface, she couldn't do much of anything but look at it and wonder what...

"**One Missed Call**

**-5 dys ago**"

"...What?"

Odd...Didn't the Barrier block the signals from the outside? The phone never rang...but she'd missed a call. Strange. Very strange.

It looked like someone had left a message. She was filled with a false hope that it would be someone knew from the Underground as she tapped the icon and brought the phone up to listen to it.

"_heya...is anyone there?_"

And her false hope was immediately made genuine.

"S...Sans?"

"_oh, well...guess i'll leave a message._"

_It's a message,_ she reminded herself, very tempted to answer him. _It's a recording. He can't hear you...But you can listen._

"_so...it's been a while, huh? things have gotten pretty interesting since you left. for one, the queen returned, and is now ruling over the underground again._"

"Toriel..." she whispered. She'd come back to rule in Asgore's place?

"_she instated a new policy upon her return: all of the humans who fall into the mountain will be treated not as enemies, but as friends...it's really for the best. the human SOULs that asgore gathered, uh...seem to have vanished. so, uh, that plan ain't happenin' anytime soon. but even though people are heartbroken over the king, and things are looking pretty grim for our freedom, the queen's doing all she can to give us hope. so, hey. if we're not giving up down here, don't give up wherever you are, okay? no one knows how long it'll be until we join you up there...but we will. promise ya._"

"I'm trying...I-I'm trying, a-and I won't let you-"

"_SANS! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO!?_"

"_oh, nobody._"

"...Papyrus?"

"_WHAT!? NOBODY!?...CAN I TALK TO THEM?_"

"_here. knock yourself out._"

"_HEY...WAIT A SECOND...I RECOGNIZE THIS NUMBER!"_

The taller skeleton cleared his throat.

"_ATTENTION, HUMAN! I HAVE MOST WONDERFUL NEWS FOR YOU! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM NOW CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD!_"

"What!? Really!?"

"_IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE EVER DREAMED OF!...EXCEPT, INSTEAD OF FIGHTING, WE JUST WATER FLOWERS...SO THAT EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY SUBVERGED MY EXPECTATIONS! PLUS, WE ALSO HELP DR. ALPHYS WITH HER RESEARCH! SHE'S GONNA FIND A WAY TO GET US ALL OUT OF HERE!_"

"So...She's okay?" she hoped.

"_UNDYNE IS HELPING HER, TOO! THOUGH, TO BE HONEST, HER METHOD OF HELPING SEEMS KIND OF...EXPLOSION-INDUCING. BUT ALPHYS SEEMS TO LIKE HAVING HER AROUND, SO I SUPPOSE THAT'S A PLUS!_"

"Wait...If you're the Captain of the Royal Guard, now, then what's Undyne-"

"_UH-OH...HERE SHE COMES NOW!_"

"_Hey! What're you up to, huh, punk!?_"

"_PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE PHONE._"

"_Who's in charge here, Papyrus!?_"

"_ME._"

"_...Oh. Right...Here, is that who I think it is? I wanna give her another piece of my mind._"

"_YOU KNOW, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GRAB IT OUT OF MY HAND, UNDYNE._"

"_Ah, chill out. So, you...Thanks to you, I lost my job as Captain of the Royal Guard. The goody two-shoes queen came along and said that she was disbanding the guard and making a new rule that we have to be NICE to all you dirty lil' fu-_"

"_UNDYNE! LANGUAGE!_"

"_Fine...freaks. Anyways, there's only one member of the Royal Guard now._"

"_BUT HE'S EXTREMELY GOOD._"

"_Eh...Yeah, I guess you are! Come 'ere, you!_"

_"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON._"

"_It's a good thing the queen started up her new school soon enough and hired me as the gym teacher. If she hadn't, then, uh...Things down here would have been bad...For me, that is...Hey, did you know that I can bench-press SEVEN CHILDREN? Try doin' that, sticks-for-arms. Heh! Heh...Also, I'm working part-time as Alphys' lab assistant to boot. It's awesome. Especially when things catch on fire!_"

"Jeez..."

"_Heh...Eh...We're gonna find a way out of this dump once and for all. And the minute we do, you bet you know what I'm gonna do, because I told you, didn't I?...Why am I even telling you all this? Why am I not starting a rebellion? Don't you remember what I said!? I told you that I'd beat the LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU if you...If...If you went and decided you were gonna..._"

"_OH, DEAR. U-UNDYNE...ARE YOU ALRIGHT?_"

There was a moment of static silence over the line, followed by a deep sigh.

"_...Aw, darnit...I miss the big guy._"

If only she knew it wasn't her who had dealt the finishing blow.

"_URGH. Come on, Undyne, get it together!_" she scolded herself. "_Whatever. I guess...I guess you we're only doing what you had to do, and...I guess I should be sorry, and... I-I can't talk about that anymore. Uh, l-let's change the subject...Alphys. Yeah, Alphys. You're probably wondering how she's doing, huh? Hey, Al'! You wanna...! Uh...Alphys? Where you goin'?"_

There was another long pause before anyone started speaking again.

"_...She up and left...Yeah, she's, ah...been a bit more reclusive than normal. Seems like somethin's really bothering her...What it is, I don't know. I don't think anybody does. But whatever it is, she'll pull through; I, uh...know you two were pals, so I won't bash down on you as hard as I'd like. And...Just know that she's in good hands, okay punk?_"

The human sighed; despite their archrivalry, the fish monster at least had the decency to show some respect.

"_Wherever you are, I, uh...hope it's better than here. Because that'd make us even MORE pumped to get to the surface! So just...Try to be happy, okay! For our sakes! For everyone's sakes! For everyone's hopes and dreams! With one exception,(being me) everyone down here is with you. Even the queen!_"

"...Thanks, everyone."

"_...Hey...Wait a sec...! HEY! TORIEL! DO YOU WANNA...!_"

Another pause, though not as long and awkward as the last.

"_Heh heh...She says she's busy._"

"_OH, BUT IF SHE KNEW WHO WE WERE TALKING TO RIGHT NOW..._"

"_we wouldn't get the phone back for at least a few hours, i don't think._"

"_WE HAVE THE MERCY TO SPARE YOU FROM HER!_"

"_yeah...besides, it looks like this thing's nearly out of batteries. so, uh, hate to cut this short, kid, but...be seein' ya, 'kay?_"

"_FAREWELL FOR NOW, HUMAN!_"

"_Yeah...See ya, punk._"

The message ended just as the phone screen went black; it was dead. It'd had just enough charge left to give her the message.

But with that little bit of battery went what was left of Ginger's spirit.

Ginger curled into herself, full of shame and regret. It didn't matter how encouraging the words of her monster friends we're; she'd left the Underground in a worse state than it'd been before she arrived. If she hadn't made the stupid decision to fly down the stupid hole in the first place, none of this would have ever happened. The human SOULs wouldn't have been gathered in vain, the king would still be alive, the people would still have hope, and on top of all of that, if she'd just steered clear of that mountain in the first place, she wouldn't be here. She'd be in the Beaks with her fellow owls, where she belonged.

But she did decide to venture down there. And because of her, the SOULs were gone, Asgore was dead and the Underground had lost all hope once again. All she'd done was pour salt on an already gaping wound.

And with Asgore gone, there was no way she could show her face there again. Not after so long, and not when everyone thought SHE'D been responsible.

But she deserved the blame. Really, she deserved to be stuck like this for the rest of her life. She just wished she could go back and fix things. If only she could...

"...Wait."

_Go back and fix things..._

"Did...I don't...Do I still have the power to **Save** and** Reset**?"

The last time she **Saved **was right before she fought Asgore...but after the fight, Flowey had dealt the last blow on him and absorbed the six SOULs, taking the ability back for himself before their epic battle in the void. Then again, Flowey lost his power to do so once more when the SOULs banded up against him to defeat him for good.

And that was when she killed him.

If Flowey was gone, then...Maybe...

"It's...worth a try, isn't it? Especially if it means I can...make things right."

Ginger stood back up, now filled with a new sense of vigor, and her **DETERMINATION **swelling inside of her stronger than ever.

"Just...will yourself there," she told herself, closing her eyes to concentrate. "Will it, and you'll go back. Just like last time. I want this to work...This HAS to work...!"

She shut her eyes tighter. Was she not concentrating hard enough? She had to focus harder; she pictured that shimmering Save Point just outside the Barrier room, hoping that when she opened her eyes, it would really be there.

_This can't fail._

_**I **can't fail._

_Not in I have **DETERMINATION.**_

She took in a frustrated breath...

Only to notice that it wasn't quite so crisp and cold anymore. Instead, it was...stuffy. And far warmer. Everything was warmer; the air was calm and dull, and the freezing nip of the snow on the ground, penetrating her shoes to get to her feet, was gone.

The human opened her eyes again.

The Save Point was right there at her feet, sparking just a bit brighter than it normally did in the dark hall.

_...It worked. It actually worked...!_

She looked beyond the Save Point, and then she remembered.

"_Asgore..._" she mouthed, rushing over to peer through the gateway.

The Barrier stood in all its pulsating glory, and there, standing before it, his back faced to her, was him.

King Asgore, in the flesh. As though his death, along with the fight against Flowey, the latter's death and her upwards of six weeks living in the wilderness had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination.

And now, that was all those things really were.

"...This is the Barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped underground...Through your seventh and final SOUL, we can finally undo the thousand-year spell...and return to the surface world."

Her eyes glossed over with tears; he didn't know the horrors yet to come from the fight.

"If...If by chance, you have any unfinished business, then...Please. Do as you must. I will wait for you."

Just like she remembered; she blinked to expel the wet sensation on her eyes, then breathed deeply. There had to be a way to convince him not to do this...Maybe give him some more time to think? Yes...That might work. And in the mean time, she could go back and see if there was anything else she might be able to improve before returning.

"I...I think I've...got a few things that need to be taken care of...before we do this thing."

"...I understand," he nodded, his tone full of understanding and sympathy. "Anything you want to do is important enough. Even if it's something as small as...taking a walk, or reading a book, or...enjoying a nice meal somewhere, maybe...Whatever it is, please take your time. I will be waiting here when you are ready."

This poor man. He'd lost everything. His hopes for the future, his children, his wife's love. Everything he held near and dear to him had vanished within a day. The only thing he had left was his kingdom to rule over.

She'd done something for everyone else down here in this mountainous prison; maybe she could...do something for him.

"Um...Your Majesty?"

The Boss Monster turned his head ever so slightly in her direction, just barely able to see her out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes?"

"If, uh...If it's not too much trouble for you...Uh...Before I go tend to what I have to do, would it be a problem if I..."

He turned his head a bit more, his gentle blue gaze somewhat curious.

"Would you mind if I take you up on that offer for tea?" she finally spat, a nervous grin spread across her sweat beaded face.

Asgore's eyes became a bit wider with the small shock. Out of all the things the human could have said to him...This was surely the one he had least expected.

"...Why...No, actually," he answered, turning around fully towards her again. A small smile found its way to his muzzle. "In fact, it...It would be my pleasure. Come. We'll take this to the royal household."

She followed behind him, trekking back through the Judgement Hall, then up across the bridge suspended over the city of New Home. Ginger peered over the stone ledge to capture the magnificent overview, having never stopped to take it in the last time she passed over it; despite its bland color scheme, the architecture of the city was archaic and intricate, and now she looked down at scores of monsters bustling about below, doing all sorts of things.

"...It's a nice view, isn't it?" Asgore remarked. He, too, was admiring the sight of it.

"How many monsters live here in New Home?"

"Oh, I'd say...pushing three hundred. The capital is beginning to get overcrowded, though; a number of citizens have considered moving further back into the caverns to fill up the likes of Snowdin and Hotland...That is..."

"Unless the Barrier gets broken before then?"

"...Yes. That's right."

_Stupid, _she scolded herself. _Stupid, stupid, why'd you say that?_

"Ah...Well, should we, uh..."

"Oh. Yes. Follow me, human. It won't be long now."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"So...Captain Undyne says this is your favorite stuff."

"Undyne...?"

He looked up from watching the petals boil and turned to face her again.

"Yes. Uh...She was telling me about how you...you know, trained her up to be a soldier."

"...She did?"

He wasn't at all upset by the thought of it, but he was surprised; he thought his protégé would have torn her to pieces at the mere sight of her.

"Yeah...And then she proceeded to burn her house down while trying to make spaghetti."

"Oh, dear me. I-is she alright?"

"She's fine. Hangin' out with the judge and his brother."

"Sans...You know him, too? Uh...personally, I mean?"

"Yep. And Alphys."

"AND my Royal Scientist?"

His eyes widened just a bit more, but he tried to hide his amazement by checking the tea again.

"...Golly..." he remarked, and the tiniest indication of a laugh escaped from him. He was beside himself. "You...certainly know how to get around, don't you?"

"You could say that, your Majesty. In fact, I...plan to go see her after we're done here. Things...could be going better for her."

"Oh...Is she well?"

"...Not in here."

She gestured a hand over her heart.

"Oh, dear...I-if you will, when you see her, please send her my best wishes."

"Will do," she promised, accompanied with a bow of submissive respect for the king.

"...I think it's done."

The giant, white-coated Boss Monster took the kettle off and prepared the hot beverage in both of the teacups. The sweet aroma of the Golden Flowers filled the atmosphere, and he carried the them to the table, where they sat across from each other. Ginger took a curious look at the teacup he'd given her.

As opposed to his deep royal violet one, hers was striped yellow and green.

She took a sip; at first, it seemed similar to what Undyne had whipped up, but this cup was just...SO much better-tasting. How did he do it?

"I beg your pardon, but...May I ask you something...strange, human?"

She looked up at him and nodded as her answer to his question.

"...Why exactly DID you venture into Mount Ebott?"

Ginger deflated some, then looked down at her hands.

She had almost forgotten what her wings used to look like. In fact, she had almost forgotten she used to have any at all.

"I...heard the legends," she explained to him. "About how you were all sealed underground here, and I was foolish enough to think they were nothing but a myth, so I...went and decided to see what was really down here...It was a good thing that bed of flowers was there, or...Well...You might have all been free a while ago."

_The flower bed..._

It was still there, after all these years? King Asgore was amazed at this. Who was tending to them? Someone had to be for them to still be around.

"I guess I was proven wrong, huh? Well..."

She drank some more of the tea; it went down faster, seeing how small the teacups were compared to the mugs that the other monsters typically used.

"This is what I get for being stupid."

"Now, now, human. You're far from stupid, I can tell you that...I mean...you MUST be fairly clever if you could convince Undyne of all monsters to lay down her guard and strike up a conversation with you. And not to mention arrive all the way here, solving countless puzzles along the way, I'm sure."

"Well, I...learned from the best," she finished, downing what was left of the Golden Flower tea. "Um...Thank you for that."

"You're quite welcome, young one. Now, you best be along if you want to go see Dr. Alphys for a while, no?"

"Yes...You're right. Erm...Let me make sure I have everything."

She slid her messenger bag off her and situated it on the floor beside the chair.

"Do you want me to wash out the-"

"Oh, no, no. Don't trouble yourself with that. You make sure you have everything you need."

He collected the cups and turned to go to the kitchen area. Once his back was turned, Ginger slipped out one of her pieces of paper and her pencil and scribbled on it before putting it on the table.

And on the corner of the note, almost as a sort of paper weight, she put something down, along with her fork. Satisfied, she turned towards the front entrance, then headed back out the door, ready to tend to her unfinished business.

Asgore finished his careful washing of the cups and gingerly put them back in the cabinet where they belonged, then returned to the table, only to find that the human had made herself scarce. Where could she have gone?

"Um...Hello? H-human?"

And that was when he spied a foreign object on the table. Intrigued, he approached it.

"...A note?"

He picked up the lightly crumpled paper and scanned over the somewhat sloppy text; it looked like it'd been written in a hurry.

"_King Asgore Dreemurr,_

_Thank you very much for the tea and  
hospitality; it's no wonder why all of  
the people down here look up to you  
so much. I feel as though I should do  
something in return, so please take  
this as a token of my gratitude._

_Best regards,_

_Ginger Wingren(A.K.A. the human)_"

"Hm...That's a...befitting name."

He looked down at the bundle of napkins she'd left on the table. Curious as ever as to what she could have possibly left for him, he sat down with it and began to unwrap the little package. It wasn't long until the object made itself plain, and a smell wafted up from it.

And when it did, his paws rose up to his mouth, in sick denial of what he was staring down at.

There, laid out before him, was a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie, a single bite taken out of the very tip.

"How...who..." he stammered, still not fully convinced of what he was seeing.

That was when he noticed the fork sitting next to him. He almost didn't want to, but he had to know for sure.

He dug the spikes of it into the pie and brought it to his waiting mouth.

The utensil fell right from his weak paw and back onto the table.

He had tried so many recipes for the same dish, and had sampled so many different tastes. But this was one he couldn't ever forget.

There was only one monster who could have made this.

And come to think of it, Ginger's messenger bag did look somewhat familiar...

"...Oh...No..."

THAT was where she'd fled to. The place where all of the other humans fell before they were eventually...That meant she had to have...

He didn't know what prompted him to do it, but he decided to go back to the Barrier room. He walked there at a snail's pace, and when he finally arrived, he summoned the six SOULs he'd collected, all of them contained in their respective holders. They all used to be children. Children that she wanted to save.

From him.

And what had he done to them?

...What had he done to HER?

"...Children, I...I...just wanted to tell you all that..." he choked out. "...that...I'm sorry."

And it was at that moment, King Asgore, noble ruler of the kingdom of monsters, fell to his knees and cried.


	34. Chapter 32: Mission Messenger

"Okay...So, I just gotta pass through the resort again, and...No, no, Mettaton won't try that again...will he? Ugh...you stupid oaf, he's probably not even conscious right now."

She muttered to herself as she went, deep in thought as she passed back through the MTT Resort, and made her way back to Hotland through the CORE, trying to plan her next move. But, being honest with herself, she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to handle things.

"Alright...First, I gotta hit the Lab and talk things out with Alphys. Hope that goes alright...Hope she's there and not at..."

She didn't want to finish the thought, but seeing that she was still alive over a month after she'd left in the last timeline, she figured it safe to assume she was still here. But if she didn't find her at the lab, the Trash Zone would definitely be the next place she would check.

"Okay, I'll do that...Then what? Maybe go visit Sans and Papyrus again? Ugh...Undyne's gonna be there. How am I gonna deal with that one? And what am I gonna tell them? That I came to say goodbye forever before I-"

It was at that moment, she heard her phone ring. Papyrus, she hoped. Now she could tell him to expect her.

"Hello?"

"_Uh, hey, bud! It's Undyne!_"

_...WHAT?_

'Hey, bud'? That didn't sound like her at ALL, especially seeing who it was directed at.

"_So, I've got somethin' I need to ask of you, is that okay?_"

"Alright. Who are you and what have you done with the REAL Undyne?"

"_WHAAAAT? What are you talkin' about, pal?_"

"Well, for starters, the REAL Undyne doesn't call me pal; she calls me punk, nerd, scumbag, dirty little 'F' and so on."

"_Oh...I see what you're getting at. I don't remember using that last one recently, though...But come on, all that's in the past! Hey, listen; how 'bout you come on down to Snowdin and see us? I got a special job for ya!_"

"You trying to brutally murder me like, five times is something to just be swept under the r-"

"_Look, just get your a-...uh...your butt over here so we can get this over with, okay!?_" she snapped.

Okay. That WAS the real Undyne. But why the friendly ruse?

"...What's this about?"

"_It's not much. I, uh...just need you to deliver something for me, is all._"

"_NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH..._"

"_Shut up, Papyrus, this was you're idea!_" she rasped to him. "_Anyway, just run on down here, it shouldn't take you long. Especially since the Riverperson's ferry goes right from here to the lab, you know what I mean? Less walking for you!_"

Ginger sighed.

"...Fine. But only because I've got nothing better to do."

"_Aw, thanks a million! See ya there!_"

And with that, she was gone.

"...That was actually kind of disturbing," Ginger said to herself as she made her way back through Hotland; the elevators were all functioning again, so it took a lot less time to get to the western border. She passed by the lab on her way back to the ferry, and she stopped to stare at the door for a few seconds, debating whether or not she should talk things out with Alphys first before going to deliver...whatever Undyne wanted her to deliver, or if she should get the latter out of the way first.

Upon sorting out her priorities, she approached the lab doors to see if they would slide open. They didn't; Alphys must have locked them. So gave them a small knock, then pressed her ear up against them to see if the telltale clicking of the raptor's claws against the tile floor would sound as she approached.

***But nobody came.**

Maybe she was upstairs, and couldn't hear her. Maybe she was busy tending to Mettaton; in this timeline, it'd only been about an hour and a half since they battled. Either that or she was still too upset with herself to answer to anyone. Or both, for that matter.

_...Poor thing..._

But if she wasn't going to answer now, she might as well head back to Snowdin.

Besides, the thought of seeing a more cheery environment, as well as her tall skeleton friend again over standing in the heat and waiting prompted her to get done whatever she needed done.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Tra la la...The waters are calm today...That's bad luck."

"Really?" she asked, slipping her sweater back on in place of the armor she'd just stowed away, her faint smile fading.

"Indeed. I sense conflict on the horizon...Well...Here we are."

She stepped off of he boat and onto snowy terrain once again.

"Come again soon. Tra la la..."

She headed south, then east towards the skeleton residence; sure enough, Papyrus and Undyne were standing just outside the door, waiting for her. The skeleton waved, sporting a friendly smile, and Undyne tried to do the same.

"SHE'S HERE! WELCOME BACK, HUMAN!"

"S-s'up, buddy?"

Her grin came off as more of a shaky grimace, however, and she blew on her hands. Sans was right when he said she couldn't handle the extremes.

"Don't you have, like, a coat or something? I mean, look at me."

"You can only pull so many clothes from a house fire! DUH!"

The fish monster sighed.

"...Look, I-I got somethin' f-for you to deliver to D-Doctor Alphys, okay?" she chattered through clenched teeth. "H-here, take it."

She held out a sealed envelope for the human to take; the Royal Scientist's name was written on the back of it in blue ink.

"You're gonna freeze you're gills off out here," Ginger remarked. "Any reason you couldn't just take this to Hotland yourself?"

"U-uh..."

Her blue-scaled face turned puce again.

"W-well...D-didn't you see what happened th-the last time I went there, you dunce!? Hotland sucks!"

"While I agree, it'd do you better than standing out in the snow waiting to catch cold like an idiot."

"What!? You're ridiculous! I'm the C-captain of the Royal Guard! I don't get...I...Ah...A-_**CHOO!**_"

The sneeze could have been heard all the way from the Ruins to the CORE.

"I don't get sick," she insisted, wiping a disgusting amount of green snot off her face with her arm. Ginger's face scrunched up at the sight of it.

"HERE, UNDYNE. G-GO IN AND GET YOURSELF A TISSUE OR TWO...OR FIVE."

"Ugh...Fine. Just, kid, d-do me a solid? Don't t-take the ferry back, I don't want that thing getting wet," she finished as she went into the log house.

"I'LL GIVE YOU THE REAL REASON, HUMAN," Papyrus explained. "WHENEVER SHE TRIES TO DELIVER ONE OF THOSE LETTERS, SHE ALWAYS GOES BACK TO REWRITE IT, THINKING IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH."

"Well, knowing her, it's probably not," she joked. "And isn't there a mailman around here? Gerson said something about one once."

"OH, WE DO HAVE A MAIL SERVICE. SHE'S JUST AFRAID OF HER LETTERS GETTING LOST."

"I don't think the odds of that are very high...Whatever. At least I get a nice walk through Waterfall."

"ONE MORE THING BEFORE YOU LEAVE, HUMAN," he said to her, pulling something he'd been keeping in his scarf out to hand her.

It was the movie they watched.

"I KNOW YOU TOLD ME TO KEEP IT AS A MEMENTO, BUT I JUST COULDN'T STAND HOLDING ONTO IT NOT KNOWING WHEN YOU'D BE BACK FOR IT. AND SEEING YOU'RE HERE NOW, I THOUGHT I MIGHT RETURN IT WHILE I HAD STILL THE-"

He was cut off when the human suddenly flung her arms around him in a warm embrace.

"...NY'OH, HUMAN. I MISS YOU ALREADY, AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN GONE YET."

He knelt down and squeezed her right back, tears forming in his eye sockets.

"If everything goes alright," the human told him. "I'll probably be back sooner than you might think."

"B-BUT AREN'T YOU GOING TO LEAVE? WHAT ABOUT ASGORE? WHAT IF HE TRIES TO STOP YOU?"

"I...spoke to him for a bit, actually. Not about the super important stuff, just...chitchat, sort of. And I have a few more things left to take care of before I cross over to the other side, so I thought maybe it'd give him some more time to think it over."

"R-REALLY? YOU SPOKE TO ASGORE YOURSELF?" he asked, letting go of her.

"We say down for tea, and he sent me on my way," she grinned.

"WOWIE...WELL, THEN...I MUST SAY, MY HOPES ARE RETURNING! GO ON AHEAD AND COMPLETE YOUR MISSION, HUMAN! THE SOONER YOU LEAVE, THE SOONER YOU'LL GET BACK, AND THE SOONER YOU GET BACK, THE SOONER WE'LL BE ABLE TO HANG OUT LIKE THE COOL FRIENDS WE ARE AGAIN! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"I'll go. See you 'round, Papyrus!"

"HIKE SAFELY!"

"Hey! Kid! One more thing!"

Undyne stuck her head out the door again, and before Ginger could dash off, the fish monster had her full attention.

"What is it?"

"Just gonna say this once. If you read that thing...I'll KILL you," she snarled. "Understand?"

"...Yeah. Understood."

"Great!"

The fake smile instantly returned to the captain's face.

"Get on out there, okay? See ya later, punk!"

The human rolled her eyes, stuffed the letter in the flat compartment on the front of her messenger bag, waved to Papyrus one more time, then turned east again and headed for the spot that she and him battled. The snow was falling there again, though less heavily than what it'd been that day.

It was time to begin the long trek through Waterfall back to the lab.

* * *

_..._

* * *

***Waterfall-Crystal**

***File Saved**

"Okay..."

She kept going, passing the telescope that Sans used to stand by and one of the boxes she hadn't used. Up ahead, there was a small break in the path, water separating each side; she hadn't taken this particular route before, so she had been unaware of the gap until now.

"...Hm," she hummed, not particularly annoyed by the obstruction, but also noting it as an obstacle. Fortunately for her, the gap was small, disproportionately so, even, and it could easily be cleared with one of her powerful jumps. She was just about to back away from the break in the path, when...

She heard a whistling sound coming from down at her feet. Not just any whistle...A bird's whistle. She looked down.

And there, rising no higher than her foot, was a teeny, tiny yellow bird, looking up at her with curious little black eyes.

"...Oh, hey there. Where'd you come from, huh?" she asked it.

The bird chippered at her, but she couldn't understand it. Maybe if she were still an owl, she would have.

"Hm...How'd you get in the Underground? You...don't exactly look like a bird _monster_."

It looked very much like something from above; something like a small finch. What were they called? Canaries? Yes, maybe that was what it was. She heard that some humans kept them as pets; maybe this one escaped its old home, and somehow ended up flying down the mountain, like she did, only to get stuck.

But if this was the case, the little canary could consider itself lucky to STILL be a canary.

The bird flapped its wings and spiraled up to perch on her head, its tiny talons grasping it firmly.

"Um...Not sure that's the best place to sit, little guy. I've gotta jump over this gap in the road, and I don't want you getting flung around and-"

Before she could finish, the bird began to flap its wings, still holding fast onto her head.

Something was DEFINITELY weird about this situation. Especially considering that she was finding her legs being lifted clean off the ground by the tiny animal as it flew!

She would have protested against the bird's help, but she was just so amazed by its impossible strength; how had a tiny canary like this one gotten so strong!? Was it magic? Even if the bird itself wasn't a monster, she wouldn't be surprised if there was magic involved for it to be so potent. Besides, if she argued against its help, it might decide to drop her into the water, which was now right below them.

After just under a minute, the bird began its descent, lowering her onto the other side of the path, and then fluttering off of her head and back onto the ground at her feet.

"...How...How'd you do that?"

The bird shrugged, knowing that Ginger wouldn't be able to comprehend its answer.

"How long have you been down here?"

Now this was a question it COULD answer for her. The bird let out a series on chirps, the number of which it emitted gave her the answer.

"NINE years!? Did...Did you fly down here?"

It nodded.

"...You've been stuck down here for that long? Really?"

It nodded, but then smiled to let her know it was content.

"What you just did...Do you do that to everyone that comes down this way?"

She was answered with yet another nod.

"Wow...Is it magic that allows you to do that?"

Another nod.

"...Hey. I like you. You're neat," she said to the bird, sitting down beside it. "...You got a name?"

This time, it shook its head 'no.'

"...Did you fly down into the Ruins when you first came here?"

It nodded yes.

"Do you...know Toriel?"

Yes.

"Was she nice to you?"

Yes.

"Did, uh...She make you butterscotch-cinnamon pie?"

Yes, and the bird pinched the air with its inner and back talons.

"A TINY pie? Or pie slice?"

Yes.

"Heh. I'd like to imagine that...I had some of that stuff once. It's pretty good, isn't it?"

Yes.

"...Are you happy here where you're at?"

Yes.

"...Do you ever miss her?"

Yes. She was getting a lot of yeses.

"Me too; I was only with her a few hours, but she taught me everything I need to know down here; puzzles, mercy, worming my way out of battles, all that. You were a lot safer down here than me, since you're a bird, and all; they won't be coming after your SOUL any time soon...And really, I've gotten pretty popular down here myself, so I don't think anyone else is coming after me...Well...Except maybe the king, but...I just got done talking to him about a few things not too long ago. He doesn't want to have to do it, but it's the only way to break the Barrier...Unless, maybe, if I can convince him otherwise. But I don't know what the odds of that are. Worse comes to worse, it...it'll be either him or me."

The bird patted her knee with its little yellow wing in sympathy, and she responded by scritching the top of its head with the tip of her forefinger.

"Heh...Good fella...Say...I have an idea, you know?"

The bird looked up at her, all ears.

"How would you like to pay Toriel another visit?"

It deflated at the offer.

"Why not? Oh...The doors. Well, maybe if she knows its you, she'd be willing to let you back in? You'd have to wait until evening, though; that's when Sans goes over there to tell her jokes and stuff through the door, so you won't have to wait for her in the cold snow. In fact, just in case, you might consider hanging around him until he decides to go there."

The little canary cocked its head curiously.

"...You're wondering why I'm giving you the idea, huh?...Well, you see, there are a few things I'd like to tell her myself, now that I'm a little wiser about this whole situation, but I don't have the time to show up there in person."

She pulled out the letter Undyne had for her from her pack and showed it off.

"I'm on a mission to take this thing to Hotland. It's a special delivery, sort of thing, you know?"

It nodded.

"And if you're willing to accept it, _I've_ got a job for_ you,_" she said to it as she put the letter back.

The bird twittered at her, very excited by the idea; it'd been carrying people across the gap for so long, the thought of something different for a change sounded fun.

"Here, let me just...write something first."

Ginger took out all of her remaining pieces of paper and began to write on the top one, the sheets beneath it forming something sturdy to lean against. The canary watched her scribble on the paper for a long while. It seemed intrigued by her writing, keeping its eyes focused heavily in her pencil, watching it swoop and curl, and it cocked its head every time she erased something, be it as small as a sloppy letter or as big as an entire two sentences.

It was odd, though; it was very focused on Ginger's busy pencil, but seemed to pay no attention to just WHAT she was writing. Seemed to the human that it preferred not to stick its beak where it didn't think it belonged. While she wouldn't have minded much if it did, she could at least appreciate the bird's formality.

As well as its patience; it felt like she was writing for quite some time.

Finally, she finished, and she straightened the paper out and rolled it up tightly into a neat little scroll before taking the paper that'd been beneath it, tearing a strip from it and wrapping it loosely around the message to hold it shut.

"Perfect," she remarked. "Now, can you pick this up? I made sure to roll it tightly so it can fit in your talons, but I just want to make sure."

She handed the scroll to the little bird, and it wrapped its delicate little claws securely around it, flashing a proud smile across its beak as it flapped its wings, took to the air and flew a circle around her.

"Excellent! Ha...Hey. I think I have a name for you."

It's eyes widened in anticipation.

"Joss. Messenger Joss. Do you like that?"

It nodded ecstatically.

"It's something to be proud of. You see, where I'm from, Messenger Joss is famous in the history and legends of our kindred. He served under both King H'rath and his son Hoole as a Royal Messenger. Just by carrying information, he saved so many lives and stopped so many evil forces. Hagsfiends, Lord Arrin, the worst of the worst. Carry your title with your head raised, Joss. You're named after a hero."

Joss puffed out his chest.

"Now you go down to the Ruins and live up to that title. You've got this."

He nodded, then with a pump of his wings, was off in a hurry, the scroll clutched tightly in his little claws.

"Glauxspeed, Joss!" she called to him as he disappeared through the air. "Glauxspeed!"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Okay, I THINK I remember everything clearly now...So, it was the monthly address at the castle, and the queen was giving her part on the current events. So, when she finished with that, she hands the microphone over to Asgore...Thing is, though, she didn't realize the thing was still on, and she says to him, 'Your turn, Fluffybuns.'"

"Oh, my gosh...!" Ginger wheezed. "What'd the crowd think of that?"

"They went bonkers with laughter!" the old tortoise monster exclaimed. "And when she realized just what'd happened, she started laughing along with 'em! But then, the king held up his arms, and the crowd was shrouded in silence. He leaned towards the microphone, expression...stern, and then he says, 'Dear citizens. Thank you for coming here today. I...King Fluffybuns..."

The human burst out laughing herself; what she would have given to see that with her own two eyes...

"And the rest is history. Heh heh...I've got plenty o' crazy stories tucked away somewhere deep down in this ol' brain. Now, I'm just a wee bit curious. You ain't no old geezer like me, but...You got any yourself? Been a while since any of us have seen the surface, you know what I mean?"

"Me? Stories? Uh...Well..."

She thought for a moment; she figured she'd have something of the sort to share with him, but she found herself blanking. And for some reason, the first thing she ended up remembering was the little canary, now aptly named Messenger Joss, that she'd just sent to the Ruins.

But it was that thought that finally gave her a suggestion.

"...Care to hear about the time I snuck into the main base of our greatest enemies?"

"Lay it on me, why don'tcha?"

"So, this was just over a year ago. I'd only been a member of my organization for a handful of months, but I was killing the training regiments. Heck; since she thought I had so much potential, the Ablah General even made me the leader of our little youth squadron!"

"Ablah General? Never heard o' that title before..."

"Neither did I until I met her. I think it has something to do with this other place she runs...But she's technically the queen, where I'm from. Anyways, one day when me and my four fellow trainees were all outside playin' a round of Nootie Ball, she pulls me aside...Well...INSIDE, and brings me to none other than the High Tyto himself...Or king, as you might refer to him down here. Now I hadn't met the guy until that point, but he's a lot different from Asgore, let me tell you that. Dark, tough, battleworn; he wears a metal mask as his crown to conceal all of the scars on his face...Even still, underneath all that wear, tear and hardiness, he's actually a pretty high-spirited guy. But anyway, I'm thinkin' I did something wrong, because why else would the king and queen themselves call me to a private meeting in their private chamber? Well, it turns out, they actually called me in to tell me just how much I'd done RIGHT. And that was when they dropped the bombshell and told me about the mission they had for me."

"And did you accept?"

"Well, I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, so you could say I did. So pretty soon after that, the queen's flying me over the sea to the island base the enemy has. And I just lay low until I hear bustling going on, then I throw myself into the water to feign drowning to get their attention and have them pull me out. Lo and behold, it worked, and the next thing I know, I'm standing before the ENEMY king! He looks a lot different from the High Tyto; lighter colors and not quite as old, but he's insane, I tell you; he's bent over backwards trying to destroy us for who knows how long now! Not to mention all of the controversial decisions he'd made for his own people as of late..."

"Sounds like the dangerous kind..."

"Not the brightest, though; he bought pretty much my entire cover story right off the bat. All he really did was ask me a few extra questions to be cautious, but other than that, I was in and approved for their training in no time flat. And the following night, I get a visit from one of my force's fellow spies, Valdimore; now his job was to get the information I'd picked up and deliver it to the monarchs, so it was like a messenger-type thing, you know? And it gets better; the NEXT day, I find out there's ANOTHER guy at the enemy base we have on our side serving spy duty...I, uh, kinda found that part out by accident, but it still turned out fine."

"And what was that one's name?"

"Allomere; he'd actually been part of the enemy force for a while, but decided he wanted to...you know...switch over when he found out about all of the twisted stuff their king was doing. Anyway, now I've got BOTH of them helpin' me out, and since Allomere can get into the meetings the Parliament have, he could make sure no one caught me doing my little spy business. So with that said, I head down to this secret compartment the next morning-everyone calls it 'the Roots,' the compartment,-and I get the full extent of their plans. They were going to try to use these...weapons against us. It's hard to explain them, but basically, they hinder one's sense of navigation while ALSO impairing your insides, rendering any enemy useless. Something to do with magnetics and stuff. Anyway, I pass that on to Valdimore the next time I see him. Now I did think it was good that I had both Valdimore and Allomere helping me out, but I guess three turned out to be a crowd, because pretty soon thereafter, King Boron(the enemy king) starts getting suspicious of a few things and starts making all these little comments about it. Like, he doesn't know for SURE at this point, but he's got a hunch."

"What'd ya do?"

"Well, the following morning, I get a written message from the High Tyto telling me to report back to home base immediately so we can prepare for the big fight, so me and Valdimore geddup and GO, and we don't stop until we're back home! And once we get there, it's prep, prep, prep! Nothing but preparing for the enemy attack! Setting up squadrons, acolytes, traps, everything. And when they finally showed up, they got DEMOLISHED! I can't even count how many bodies there were! Boron got away, though, and so did a lot of the other veteran members of his fleet. They still pose a threat, but they took a beating that day."

"Heh! Sounds like you fellers had more luck than we monsters did in the war! Good on ya!"

Ginger sighed.

"Wish you guys had been as well of as we were that day. Well, to conclude, when everything was said and done, a ceremony was organized for me and Valdimore for our work. That was how I got my title as general; General Ginger. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?"

"I'd say! Not a bad war story; I like it."

"Thank you, Mr. Gerson. Uh...I hate to leave in such a hurry, but I've got somewhere to be. I've got a message to deliver."

"Well, I won't keep ya. Pleasure seein' you 'gain, kiddo."

"Yeah..." she nodded as she headed back out of the small den, still looking back at him. She might never see him again.

"...Bye, Mr. Gerson."

"So long..."

She turned and left the cave.

"...General."

She tensed a moment, then let it out with a sigh and a smile before finally finding the will to leave. She was glad she got to see him one more time before she left; she liked the old tortoise. She really did. A lot, actually. He reminded her so much of her own dear Metal Beak.

Another reason, she realized, why she had chosen that particular story.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Heh heh...Yeah, I remember this place."

Ginger was passing under the jagged rock spire where she and Undyne began their battle. One of the torn pieces of her cloak was impaled on one of the spikes at the base.

_That cloak..._

She had it in her bag; it'd seen better days, but it was in better shape than how she last saw it, with her wilderness travel and all. A lot of things had reappeared in her pack, actually, since returning to her last Save Point; a few arrows, the last bit of Papyrus' first spaghetti batch, the butterscotch pie(even though she had given it to Asgore upon returning instead of eating it herself) It wasn't a surprise that some of the damage to her cloak had been undone.

The human passed the giant Hotland sign, then approached the water cooler and got herself a quick drink before going up to the lab doors yet again. They were still locked, but this time, when she put her head up against them, she could hear a faint noise coming from inside.

It turned out to be a series of soft sniffles, accompanied by the occasional hiccup.

Poor Alphys; all she wanted was to protect her and Asgore and get out of her slum. She just hadn't known how to go about it right. If the monster would just unlock the doors and come out to face her, she would be able to hear all of this for herself. How was she going to...

She found herself looking down at the bottom of the doors by her feet, and she noticed that the tiny space in between the doors and the ground was just big enough to slide the letter she'd delivered underneath. Maybe if she saw that someone had sent her something, she might decide to open the doors.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Ginger reached into the front pouch and pulled out the envelope, and was just about to slide the letter under when...

An odd pit formed in her gut; a similar feeling an owl's gizzard developed when one knew something was wrong. But it was a deeper, duller feeling. Not as clear. Not quite as specific and detailed on what she should do. Almost like it was just screaming "NO!" at her. No to what...?

She looked down at the letter in her hand, and the uneasy sensation intensified.

"...Why not?" she whispered. But her gut feeling failed to give her an answer.

She had no gizzard anymore, but she knew an owl's gizzuition was by far more reliable and clear than a human's gut feeling. maybe it was just the fact of WHO wrote the letter that was giving her an uneasy feeling.

"_If you read that thing...I'll KILL you._"

It must have been something remotely important, seeing that Undyne was not only concerned with it getting wet, but also so serious about the contents of it being kept a mystery to her. What could be inside that was supposed to be so private? Was it, perhaps, about her? Was she unwittingly delivering an invitation to plot against her and take her SOUL without the interference of the king? Was it a warning? Did Undyne know anything else the human didn't? Was it an urgent message? Had something happened? She was so curious that she was extremely tempted to go ahead and rip the envelope open and find out for herself.

Although she knew Undyne would fail if she tried to fulfill her threat, Ginger ultimately resisted the urge; odds were she'd find out she opened the letter before Alphys got it SOMEHOW, and although she knew how to win against her, she REALLY didn't want to have to go through something like that again right now.

"Oh, well..."

Trying to ignore the screaming of her intuition to not do it, she bent down the rest of the way and slid the letter underneath the door with one quick swoop. It disappeared into the lab in an instant, far enough through that she couldn't pull it back out. To finish, she gave the doors another knock.

From the other side of the doors, she could now hear Alphys speaking.

"Oh...Oh, n-no, is...I-is this another letter?" she squeaked out. "I-I don't want to open it. Can't I just...S-slide it b-back out?"

_Come on, Alphys, don't shut everyone out. Not now..._

It was almost as though she had heard her thoughts.

"...N-no...I-I can't keep putting it off," she admitted to herself. "I've b-been doing this for too long. I...I'll read this one."

She heard the little raptor monster begin to tear the envelope from inside. It sounded like she was having a bit of difficulty, with the slow tearing and occasional grunt.

"Heh...It's, uh...shut k-kinda strongly, isn't it?" she remarked, finally unfolding the paper inside to read.

"...Wait."

Everything went silent for a moment. Ginger was just about to knock again when she heard the Royal Scientist's breathing pattern grow uneasy from outside.

"...Wh...M...M-me...!? B-but...Who...Oh...Oh, wow, oh...M-my gosh, I...This is...I don't know what to say."

She didn't know what it was that Alphys was reading, but from the tone of her voice, it sounded like good news.

"Heh...No one's ever...This is crazy, this...This is amazing. This...this..."

There was a pause, and the human could practically see the smile fade away from her face.

"...This is too good to be true."

She heard a series of mechanical whirrs and clicks coming from inside the walls around the doors, and the next thing she knew, they'd slid open, and Dr. Alphys was standing there at the door, still looking down at the letter in her hands with red, puffy eyes.

"Hey, if..." she started, slowly turning her gaze up to meet whoever came knocking at her door with the letter. "...If this is a joke of some sort, it's not..."

And then she saw who she was actually looking at.

"F...F-funny...Wh...What...!?"

"Hi, Alphys. I, uh...Came back. King Asgore said that if there was anything left I had to do to go ahead and do it now," Ginger explained, stooping down to match her height.

"...Are you okay?"

Alphys brown eyes went from worn with sadness to wide with shock.

"Oh...Oh my God...?! D-did..."

"Asgore's fine. And he told me to send you his condolence-"

"Did...YOU write this?"

"...Uh..."

"I-it wasn't signed, so, I d-don't know who could've..."

It seemed as though Alphys had misinterpreted a couple of things.

"Well, you see-"

"Oh...Oh, my God...Me? O-oh, no. That's..." she uttered, scanning and rescanning the written text, her bright yellow-scaled face growing more and more pink. She brought up one of her small clawed hands up to her warm cheek, managing a bit of a smile.

"Heh...Th-that's adorable," she remarked before looking back up at the human. "I...I h-had no idea you, um...wrote that way!"

"That's the thing, Alphys. I d-"

"It's...It's surprising, too...After all the gross stuff I pulled, I..."

Her eyes began to gloss over again.

"...I don't really deserve to be forgiven."

"Aw, come on, Alphy. Of course you do," the young human soothed, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Look. You might not have done a perfect job of showing it, but it proves that you really do care about what happens to me and Asgore, you know that?"

"B-but, I...I-I s-sent Mettaton to d-do all that stuff to you. I lied to your face. I-I got you hurt, I..."

Her breathing grew heavier.

"I...B-because of me, it's...It's g-gonna be you o-or him," she whimpered, hanging her head in shame.

Ginger took her hand off her shoulder and used her forefinger to lift the monster's head back up to face her.

"It's not your fault, Alphys. If you hadn't have been around to do all that, I would have ended up facing the king anyway. And you know what else?"

"Wh-what?"

"If you hadn't been there, I would've never had the pleasure of knowing you."

Alphys' face grew redder still, and she glanced back down at the letter still in her hands. She sniffed, then blinked rapidly to try and expel the tears forming in her eyes, a tiny smile slowly inching its way across her face.

"Heh...Besides, looking back on all that, it was actually sorta fun," the Huntress mused. "With all the crazy puzzles and T.V. hijinks, and glorious final battle broadcasted for the whole Underground to witness live...! Ha! It was actually kind of awesome, gotta admit. And..."

The human's smile fell, and she huffed out a sigh.

"I'm sorry about what happened in the CORE. I don't know how much of it you heard, but I remember saying some...kinda nasty things directed at you."

"Th-the whole traitor thing, and ab-bout me leaving you in the dust..." Alphys choked up a little. "I-I deserved that, though."

"Doesn't give me an excuse. Guess we were both sorta screwed up, huh?"

"M-me more than you..." she squeaked, looking down again as she shed a tear. The human gently brushed it away, giving her a sympathetic look.

"It's okay, Al'. It'll all work out," she assured her, reaching up to lightly pat the top of her head. "I forgive ya..."

The raptor monster looked her in the eye for a moment, her dark brown ones meeting blue, then looked down at the letter again, then back to Ginger.

"Y-you know what?" the monster said as she looked back up at her. "Okay. I...I-I'll do it! Heh...It's the least I can do to make it up to you, isn't it?"

"Um, actually, that thing came-"

"J-just give me a minute or two! I shouldn't do something like this is in a dirty old lab coat!"

Before the Huntress could say anything else, the little dinosaur had shut the lab doors again and disappeared. The letter fluttered onto the dry ground; she'd dropped it when she left to go back in, and now it was stuck outside with its deliverer, opened and unfurled. Ginger raised a confused eyebrow.

"...Sprink what you said, Undyne," she muttered. "What the heck is this all about?"

She snatched the piece of paper up off the ground, flapped it open and began to read over the blue ink.

Her eyes immediately narrowed.

"...What the..."

"_Dear friend,_

_Too long have I waited to tell you just how __much  
you mean to me, and I intend to change that now.  
Ever since I first laid eye on you, I've been caught  
in your passionate inferno and hooked on every  
aspect of you. Everything you say and everything  
you do reminds me yet again that there is still  
something worth fighting for down here in this  
wretched, thousand-year prison. That something  
is you. You've captured my heart and soul, and if  
I had only one wish, it would be to stand on the  
surface world, underneath the stars we've longed  
to see for so long, and hold you in my arms until  
the end of time itself. I can hardly wait till next  
we meet, because then I will be able to tell you  
all of this in person, and more. Let's not wait.  
Let's do it now, the moment you receive this.  
_

_Until then, to put it short and sweetly, I love you._"

Each word she read, it became more and more clear what she'd delivered. It made her head swim; bits and pieces of things that she'd seen and heard came back to join the puzzle, and everything snapped together quickly.

Too quickly.

"_Heh...She's really cute._"

"_What'd you say?_"

"_I said she's really cool! She's awesome! Aside from Papyrus, she and I are, like, besties!_"

"_Hey, back off, pal! She's mi...friend. My friend._"

"_WHENEVER SHE TRIES TO DELIVER ONE OF THOSE LETTERS, SHE ALWAYS GOES BACK TO REWRITE IT, THINKING IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH._"

"_**WHO DOES DR. ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?**_"

"_claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather..._"

"_WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY'D SHE CALL ME_"

Ginger's eyes bugged out in shock. How had she not seen this earlier?

To put it plainly in her mind, it turned out that Undyne wanted a lot more than just friendship with Alphys.

"But..." she stuttered. "But that's...Isn't that...They're both..."

Her legs slowly caved in on themselves, and she was soon to find herself sitting on the dusty ground, a hand coming up to her face.

This...This was why her gut screamed at her not to slide that letter under.

And she'd refused to listen to it.

"Dear Hoole, Siv and H'rath," she uttered. "...What _HAVE_ I done?!"

* * *

**A.N.: You know what I like doing? Making normally insignificant characters more relevant to the story/plot through fanfiction. Like the bird that carries you over the disproportionately small gap(a.k.a. Messenger Joss) or Gerson and the Temmies in one an earlier chapter. Didja like the role I gave our little bird friend? I know I did!**

**Oh, and, um, a quick heads up, concerning the next chapter.**

**Chapter 33 will discuss sensitive topics/scenarios, so read it at your own risk.**

"_'Read it at my own risk'? At risk of what?_"

**At risk of being offended. XD**

**As for those of you with the BRAVERY and DETERMINATION to do so, do you still wanna read the next chapter?**

**Yes?**

**Okie-dokie, then.**

**Yoooouv'e beeeen waaaaaaaarned...**


	35. Chapter 33: Hooked and Enraptored

_"How much you willin' to bet that half of the six attendees are being paid free breakfast just to show up?" Ethan joked, a smirk on his beak._

_"Oh, come on, Ethan. Just because you think that doesn't mean everybody else does."_

_"Well, even if that is the case, you can bet one owl won't be there, and you're lookin' right at him, hon'."_

_"He IS your best friend. What will he think of you talking like that about his younger brother?"_

_Ginger winced a little at the noise her parents were making; they were going to wake Felix up, no doubt, and this was one of the few times she ever had a moment's peace from him...Nonetheless, she couldn't help but be intrigued by this conversation they were having. Why didn't her dad want to go the Wingfast ceremony?_

_"Look, it doesn't matter what Harper thinks about it; my mind's made up on that sort of thing. If he wants to be there for his brother, let him go on right ahead. They can leave me out of it and I won't say anything about anything. But lemme tell ya, if I were dragged over there against my will for some reason to watch it all unfold, you know what I'd do? I'd say it loud and proud right before the vows end: 'Hey! Guess what!? I think Cooper's a gosh-darn..."_

_...A gosh darn...What?_

_Hmm...That didn't sound like a good thing to be called. It sounded like a word used to refer to...well...the fly larvae that raided the old nest material. And if one thing was for sure, those were NOT pleasant to be compared to._

_Even her mother was surprised at her mate's language, albeit also the teensiest, tiniest bit amused herself._

_"Ethan! The kids!"_

_"Ah, they'd have heard it sooner or later. As long as they don't parrot it. Look, I'm gonna go pick us up some dinner; it's almost twilight, okay?"_

_"...Alright. Fly safely."_

_"For the greater good, let's just pretend this conversation never happened, okay, Nutmeg? It'll drive us both mad. Ha!"_

_At this point, Ginger had more questions than answers. So, with her father off hunting and her rowdy brother down for a nap, the young owl approached her mother._

_"Um...Why doesn't he want to go to the ceremony? What's the big deal?"_

_"Oh. Oh, dear me...See, I knew this was going to happen," her mother groaned. "...Well you're ten now, almost fledged, so you're old enough to understand it to an extent, I guess. Erm...You have a basic grasp of the concept of romance, right?"_

_"Well, yeah," she answered. "It's when a buff and a leia love each other a whole bunch and decide to be mates. Like you and Dad."_

_She brought the tips of her wings in to meet each other, representing said male and female owl getting together._

_"Alright. So..." Nutmeg continued. "Imagine the same sort of thing, except BOTH owls are buffs. Or leias."_

_The fledgling pondered this for just a brief moment, looking down at the tips of her feathers and imagining such a thing._

_Her already large blue eyes went even bigger, and developed a confused glare. Her beak crinkled up, and she immediately separated her wings._

_"Not a whole lot of owls are like that, but there are a few. Like Harper's brother," Nutmeg explained. __"So, what do you think of that?"_

_"But that's...not how it works, is it? I mean, they can be friends, but...That just sounds...wrong."_

_"That's your input?"_

_She'd nodded, sticking her tiny, pointed tongue out of her beak to complement her thoughts._

_"Egh..." she gagged. "I wouldn't want to go to that Wingfast Ceremony, either."_

_"So, you don't like it...Alright, then. How about we save further talk of this for when you're a bit older?"_

_"With pleasure. I might not be able to keep dinner down if we don't."_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"Who's this?"_

_"Ah, this is Valdimore, young Tyto." Nyra answered her. "He's one of the best slipgizzles on the force! Just got back from a stealth mission at the Great Tree."_

_"So you're Ms. Ginger Wingren, are you? Well, pleasure to make acquaintance with an owl from the outside!" the Eagle Owl greeted, extending his massive wing across to the trainee table from that of the higher-ups' to meet her with. "Heard of your victory in the trials her Pureness here established to decide the leader of the youth squadron. Must say, you mainlanders have yet to let down our expectations. Good thing Jatt 'n' Jutt found you out there when they did!"_

_"So, Valdimore, what'd you pick up from your secret chamber hidden within the Roots this round?" Metal Beak inquired._

_"Oh, yes, that's right. your Majesty. I must tell you; Ga'Hoole has done something so terrible, it's laughable!"_

_"Pray tell," Nyra inserted. "What has the king of snowballs done this time?"_

_"It's going to make you both YARP," he emphasized. "King Boron has officially announced that he will openly accept...'double-wingers' into the guardian fleet."_

_"No..." the High Tyto gasped._

_"You're pulling our tail feathers...!" Nyra exclaimed._

_"Oh, no, I'm not, your Purenesses. But you know something? It's actually a good thing. For us, at least. How many owls are ACTUALLY in favor of that sort of thing? Let alone LIKE that? Less so than humans, let me tell you now. If that's true, than you can bet we'll win over the majority of the Owl Kingdoms for our rule in no time. We'll essentially have most of the work done for us!"_

_"That King Boron gets more and more loony everyday," the High Tyto growled. "Does Glaux Himself not think that such practice is appalling?"_

_"It's written right there in the Sacred Glauxian Texts," Valdimore answered him. "Maybe the Guardians should start reading them again instead of obsessing over every little thing we do. Might finally teach them a thing or two...Even a lot of the ones who haven't read the Glauxian Texts are on the same page with us on that. Erm...If you'll pardon the pun."_

_"Um..." Ginger asked, having been paying close attention. "...What's a 'double-winger'?"_

_All three of the adult owls looked at her, wide-eyed._

_"...Well," Nyra finally said, a calm smile on her face. "Should we not teach young Ginger exactly what we, the Tytonic Union, strive to achieve in the Kingdoms?"_

_"I'll tell you what a double-winger is, child," Valdimore started. "Double-winger' is a derogatory term used for an owl, or any other creature, really, that is amorously attracted to those of its own sex. Buffs courting buffs, leias courting leias; you see double, and the two of them think they could be wingfast to each other. That's where the word came from. Now, it's far from a common practice, but King Boron is so desperate for allies nowadays that now he'll scrape the very bottom of the barrel for them. And this little stunt of his was the garnish on our victory cake."_

_"Oh, THAT. Oh...Yeah, I've heard of that sort of thing before," she cringed. "My first initial thought was that it...It just doesn't seem right, does it?"_

_"It defies the very laws of nature," Metal Beak pointed out. "It is absolutely repulsive and completely backwards. Any living creature on this earth who practices such should not be allowed to reproduce, should you ask me."_

_"Well...I guess it's a good thing they can't if they try!" Ginger exclaimed, agreeing with her elders' outlook and causing an uproar of churrs among all four of them._

_Even the other young Tytos at Ginger's table laughed, although they preferred to keep themselves busy with wet poop jokes instead of join the 'adult' conversation._

_"Um, just curious; is there a law among the Tytonic Empire that prohibits this sort of...behavior?" she asked them._

_"Well...Not exactly, at least for the majority," Nyra answered her. "What citizens do in their own hollows is their business...But I do recommend it be very heavily discouraged across the Kingdoms. And mark my gizzard, none of them will be permitted to join our fighting ranks anytime soon, much less be allowed to DO such things within our castle walls! And should we ever find an active Pure One soldier guilty of this, I, as Ablah General, hereby declare that they shall be severely demoted, if not terminated...Perhaps even sent to one of the Glauxian Retreats in the North. Oh, that'd be a kicker, wouldn't it? They'd bore anyone out of their brains, even if they do know a thing or two! Ha! Ah...__But I digress. We strive to spread our ideals, young Tyto, for the good of all things owlish. As did the very Guardians of Ga'Hoole, before they took this...unfortunate turn, and got to where we see them today. We won't make the same mistake, though, I can promise you that."_

_"Any particular reason you ask this, young one?" the High Tyto inquired._

_"Not really; just learning more about how things work around here."_

_"Well, my love...She HAS only been with us for two moons," Nyra pointed out. "Valdimore, make sure you keep an eye on those fellows. You never know when they might try to catch us by surprise, you know?"_

_"That brings up another issue," he answered. "There's been increased talk of flecks and fleck safety around the tree as of late. They could be up to something."_

_"...Flecks, you say?" Metal Beak repeated. "If that's the case, I might increase your patrols. Stay safe out there, alright, soldier?"_

_"I'll watch my back, your Pureness. Is that not what the spy business is all about? Who knows? Maybe young Ginger here might even take interest in it one of these days..."_

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Oh, no...No, no, no, no, this isn't happening, this is _NOT_ happening..." Ginger panicked.

This was bad. REALLY bad. That was a love letter? From UNDYNE? To ALPHYS!? Ginger tore at her hair; this wasn't just bad, it was TERRIBLE. This was the last thing she'd expected. The human knew how rare this type of thing was, but even so, she'd always been STAUNCHLY against it. Ever since the day she learned of it.

But what had she done here?

She'd unknowingly assisted it. Enabled it. And now, if she didn't say or do something to stop it, it looked like she would be PARTICIPATING IN IT.

_I've become the very thing we swore against, _she realized grimly.

The more she thought about it, the worse the situation became. This had turned into not just a shockingly horrible revelation, but also a huge misunderstanding. Alphys thought SHE'D written that accursed love letter. How was she going to explain this whole thing? And Alphys...Did she...? But what about her thing with Asgore, that everyone had been talking about?

Everything about this was so confusing. There was so much Ginger didn't know, and even more that she didn't CARE to know.

She had to do something to stop this before it started, she realized. Maybe sit down and have a good long conversation with Alphys about...the whole thing.

But how? And when? Right here? Right now? In what manner? She was at civil war with herself; the Pure One side demanded that she answer her call of duty, and bring all of this to a screeching halt before it could begin, remaining loyal to the cause she'd vowed to serve. But the newer, softer side that'd rooted itself in the Underground told her to respond to things as they came, and to refrain from lashing out. Things worked differently among monsters, and therefore, she had to adapt, like she had since the start.

But doing...THIS? She wasn't sure she could take it.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this..." Ginger muttered to herself.

"D'oh...I can't believe I-I'm actually doing this..."

The human's head rose a tad at the sound of Alphys' voice coming from inside, and she listened in curiously.

"I-I mean, sure, she was awful nice, b-but...this? M-me? For real? It's...isn't it k-kinda soon? I mean, I don't...f-feel the same way, but...I-if this is what I can do t-to make it up to her, then...Well, I c-cant say no and disappoint anyone this time...I've done that too much."

"Huh..."

So Alphys wasn't exactly gung-ho on the perceived situation herself. That might make things a bit easier...hopefully.

The raptor monster sighed.

"...I need to cut back on the ramen."

Ginger heard her claws tapping closer to the door and stood back up, getting onto her feet right as the metal doors slid open.

The Royal Scientist hesitantly peered out from the side to meet the human's gaze. The human didn't look to be in a good mood, all of a sudden. Maybe she'd thought twice about this? Had she taken too long to come out? It could be anything...But she couldn't turn back now after getting her hopes up.

She sighed, readjusted her glasses, then stepped out from behind the wall and came outside.

Alphys had swapped her dusty lab coat out for a little black dress speckled with white polka dots, and it highlighted her somewhat rounded form, complementing it. The outfit had no sleeves, so her arms were bare, showing...Was that a fine layer of downy feathers coating them? It certainly looked like it. They were small, though, none of them getting any longer than most coverts. And the human had thought she only had plumage on her head.

If not for the situation, Ginger likely would have said something to the effect of: "_Aww, you look adorable~!_" But instead...

"Oh..." she emitted plainly, noting the difference from the lab coat.

"...D-does it look bad?"

"Ah, no. No, it doesn't," she answered quickly. "Just...wasn't expecting it, is all."

"Oh..."

"Uh...Where, uh...Where'd you get it?"

"F-friend of mine helped me pick it out. Heh...Sh-she's got a really great sense of..."

She trailed off, shaking off whatever thought was making her blush again.

"Uh, a-anyway. L-let's just start the date, okay?"

"Um...Right. That thing."

"Yeah! Let's, uh, date."

Ginger was beginning to turn pink herself, purely out of embarrassment. She was still pondering how she was going to handle this.

An awkward silence hung over the atmosphere, and the human refrained from making eye contact with the Royal Scientist as best she could. Alphys' smile began to weaken, and she pursed her lips, glancing off to the side and shuffling her feet some.

"Uh..." she finally said, earning Ginger's attention. "D-do you...um...like...anime?"

"...I've never watched any."

"Oh. W-well...Maybe I could...show you, s-sometime?"

"Sure, sure..."

Silence reigned again, but only briefly, as Alphys made the bold attempt to speak again after her previous blunder.

"H-hey! Let's, uh...go somewhere! I guess..."

"...Where?"

"Heh. Uh...G-good question. I-I didn't think I'd make it this far...!" she answered, emitting a somewhat forced laugh at he end.

"Hm...Where's a good place to go on a date...?"

She thought for a few moments before perking back up.

"I got it!"

"What?"

"We could go to the garbage dump!"

Oh. Not...exactly what Ginger had expected? But she did understand the appeal, so...

"That works...I suppose," she agreed, pulling on the collar of her striped sweater to release some of the heat built up in it.

"I'd like to get out of this oven anyway. Waterfall's nice. I like it there. Nice place to, uh...clear your head."

"O-Okay! Great! Uh...Sh-should we go? Like, now?"

"Let's do that," she shrugged, leading the way out of Hotland. Alphys stepped up her pace and followed alongside her.

She looked up at the human; for someone to have written something like that, she...didn't seem all that enthused. Strange...Maybe she was nervous? Well, if that was the case, she could DEFINITELY relate; why WOULDN'T she be nervous? Alphys knew that she herself certainly was. Maybe she should try to break down that wall?

"U-um..." she stammered, twiddling her thumbs. She wasn't sure how well this would go over. "Do, uh...C-could I...um...D-do you want me to-"

"What?"

"_-Hold your hand?_" she finally spat out, and the moment she did, she flung her hands over her mouth, then hid her face in humiliation.

Ginger rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh, half in pity and half in shame, then tapped the monster on the shoulder. Alphys rose her head to meet her gaze, and saw that she was extending a hand for her to take.

"Oh. Uh...Th-thanks."

Now hand in hand, the two of them left the lab behind them, Waterfall-bound.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Well, here we are."

"Heheh...Yep."

The Trash Zone sat before them in all of its garbage-filled glory.

"So...Any particular reason you decided on this place?"

"W-well, I mean, isn't it great? There's so much cool stuff here, j-just waiting to be dug out and used!"

"Well...You're not wrong."

"Y-yeah! Undyne and I come down here all the time looking for stuff!" She turned pink again. "Heh...She's really awesome. Um...I-I think. I mean...I know you're not, um... that big on her, b-but you know, you said it yourself th-that she and I are a good match."

She saw Ginger tense, and it looked like she was fighting back a grimace.

"Um...Y-you okay?"

"Too good, maybe," she muttered.

"Oh. Um...Heh...Wh-what, are you, like, jealous, o-or something? Hee hee..." she teased lightly, nudging her with an elbow.

The Huntress growled at herself, then pinched the top of her nose.

"...What's wrong?"

"Alphys, I've been putting this off ever since we were at the lab. There's something that you should-"

"Alphys? Hello? You 'round here?"

The familiar voice echoed across the garbage dump. That familiar, deep she-voice.

Alphys tilted her head to look behind one of the trash piles, and Ginger followed the direction she was looking in. There was Undyne, wandering around in search of her.

"O-oh, no...!"

"You're kidding me..."

"What's she doing here!? I-I can't let her see me on a date with you!" she panicked hoarsely, her face flushing red again. "Oh, no, oh, no, here she comes!"

She took cover behind an old trash can standing among the debris just as the Captain of the Royal Guard turned the corner around the piles. Ginger stared at her like a deer in the headlights as she ran right up to her.

_Oh, no. Ginger and Undyne. Together. Alone,_ Alphys woed silently. _How is THIS gonna go down?_

"Augh! THERE you are!"

"Oh. Well...You look different," she remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Undyne had donned a black leather jacket fitted over a white turtleneck, and a portion of her blood-red hair was flung over her missing eye.

"...I thought all of your stuff was burned in your house fire."

"I was able to salvage this stuff, okay?! Now shut your mouth and listen! I've been thinking, and I realized that..."

She turned plum.

"I figured that if you delivered that thing, it, uh...might be a bad idea."

"You think?" Ginger scowled.

"So I'm just gonna do it myself! Give it to me!"

"You're kinda late. Already delivered it. Against my gut instinct...which was correct."

She mumbled the last few words.

"SHIT!"

Undyne stamped her boot into the water, causing a bit of a splash to rise up.

"Have you at least _seen_ Alphys anywhere? She wasn't at the lab, and I haven't found her here so far, so I don't know where the hell she might have gone."

"Even if I did, do you honestly think I'd tell you?" Ginger retorted.

The captain noted that the mocking undertones of her usual speech towards her were gone. It was just sheer anger and...disgust?

"Why? You know as well as I do that she and I are close."

"Uh-huh. I noticed," she answered, narrowing her eyes at her. Undyne fixed a glare of her own, then snarled at her.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU TO BUTT INTO THIS!?"

"Someone who can stop it before it starts, that's for sure! I knew you were screwy in the head, but this!? This is goin' off the deep end!"

"You don't know ANYTHING! You want screwy in the head!? How 'bout I take a drill to yours!?"

"I'd have you harpooned and over an open flame before you even got the chance!"

"Wanna bet on that!?"

"I can't be bothered! We both know who's gonna win already, anyway..." the human sneered, raising a fist to show off.

"You think just because ya brought me down ONE time that you can do it again! Don't think I forgot all your tricks!"

"You'd forget your own misshapen head if it weren't stitched on right!"

"At least I'd be able to lift it back up, ya beanpole!"

"Well, at least I smell like beans and not _rotten tuna!_"

Undyne found herself stepping back some. Sure, they'd been hurling insults at each other ever since they'd met face-to-face, but the human seemed genuinely enraged about something this time around; something that was making this whole beef between them just a bit more personal, and a lot more ugly. She scowled back at her.

"You know what?" she finished. "I'm not gonna stoop down to your level. You're wasting my time, anyways. I'm going to look for Alphys, and when I find her, I'm gonna make sure you never get near her again!"

She turned and left Ginger behind, still yelling.

"And I WILL find her! Good riddance!"

"Yeah, good luck finding her, ya stupid, fugly, fish-faced f..."

The word-_THAT_ word-her father had used that day over two years ago threatened to spill off the tip of her tongue. But, just to save face, she changed it before it could.

"Freak..." she said instead. And then, she groaned, digging her fingers into her face in frustration.

"I swear...I'll STRANGLE that woman one of these days," she growled to herself. She emitted a sigh, then turned to approach the trash can where Alphys had taken cover.

"Alph? You still here?" she called quietly, not wanting Undyne to find out she was here. "Alphys?"

Ginger peered down behind the trash can, and there was the Royal Scientist.

She was curled up into a ball, tail wrapped around her feet and head buried into her arms, weeping.

"_Aw, frig_..." she rasped, cautiously kneeling down.

"Al...?"

It took a few moments, but the mention of her name was enough to make her raise her head to look at her. She was an absolute mess.

"Why...?" she nearly squealed, hiccupping again. "Why did you do that...!?"

"Because..."

Ginger was about to defend herself, but the more she reflected on it, she realized that what had occurred could have easily been avoided. Undyne might have brought her temper along, but she hadn't been the one to instigate the blowout. She and her had spoken to each other about being civil with each other in front of the public for the sake of the Underground's peace, but it looked like she'd failed to keep up her end of the deal. Because of her, things had only gotten worse.

"...I don't know, Alphys. That...That was stupid."

The monster didn't respond, instead curling back into hiding. Ginger slumped down unceremoniously onto one of the piles of rubbish and rested her head on her hand, at a loss for words herself. She wasn't sure what direction this was going to go in now, but it didn't look favorable.

Finally, Alphys rose her head again.

"I..." she sniffled. "I-I think I wanna go back home now."

"Okay..."

"...Are...uh..." She wiped her eyes. "Are you coming back t-to the lab?"

"I didn't think you'd want me to."

"N-no, it's...It's okay. You...f-forgave me when I did that bad stuff t-to you," she acknowledged, hugging herself some. "Aren't you the one who wanted to do this anyway?"

Ginger heaved out another sigh before answering her, lifting her head up to make herself look just a bit more dignified.

"No. I wasn't."

"But what about-"

"I tried to tell you when we were at the lab, but I couldn't get to that point. I'm not the one who wrote that letter."

"Y...You're not? But then who-"

"_SHE_ is."

"What!? Un-Undyne!?"

The human hid her face in one of her hands, scowling again.

"Yep."

Alphys went quiet. Half of her was completely humiliated for having misinterpreted the situation so badly, but the other was in utter disbelief at what the actual case was.

"W-wait. Undyne...really wrote that?"

"Apparently."

"So then that means...That means she...She..."

An almost horrifyingly big smile stretched across the monster's face, and she suppressed a joyful squeal, clenched fists pressed against the sides of her snout as she rose up onto her feet again.

"I-I don't believe it. I-I-I didn't think I had the chance with her, I thought she was way out of my league! I didn't think it would ever ACTUALLY be mutual! She...she actually likes me? Wow, oh my God, I never would have...H-have I been oblivious this whole time!? Oh, no, what...B-but she doesn't know for s-sure that I like her, too, then. W-what am I gonna do? And...And now that everything...went down the way it did..."

Her expression fell, and she sat down beside her company.

"...What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know. Really I don't. I...I'm sorry, Alphys. This whole thing was terrible; I shouldn't have said what I said."

"Well...Y-you're not the only one who regrets something here."

"Hm?"

Ginger still sounded a tad grumpy, but she lent an ear.

"I...uh...I wasn't exactly all up f-for this to begin with myself," Alphys admitted. "I, uh, th-thought it might be fun to go on, like, a sort of...pretend date with you, t-to make you feel better? Heheheh...Eh...Well, it...it sounds even worse when I put it that way, huh?"

"Gotta agree with you on that."

"Heheh...Yeah...I'm sorry about this whole mix-up. I-I should have given you the chance to tell me about this while we were still in Hotland."

"In a way, I'm actually sorta glad it held off until now," the human admitted. "I was...still sorting out what I was going to do about all of this back there, everything happened so quickly...And you can say I wasn't too happy about it. Still not, honestly. And for more than one reason; not just because we don't like each other."

"Oh. W-well, what's the other reason?"

Ginger sighed; she was going to have to put this delicately. Alphys had been through enough at this point. The last thing she wanted was to make things any worse.

"See, I come from a place where...well..."

"Hm?" Alphys hummed, paying attention closely.

"I won't get into the knitty-gritty of it, but if my kin back on the surface knew what was going on here, they definitely wouldn't be...pleased with it, to say the least."

"Oh...Ohhhhh," she realized. "I've...read about places above like that, a-actually. It's...um...n-not comforting."

"The Pure Ones rubbed off on me a lot when I was with them. I thought it was good for me at the time, but...Since I fell down here, I've started seeing things in sort of a different perspective. I guess that sometimes, you gotta see past things like that in people. Do I have to be happy about it? No. But does that mean I should be a jerk about it? You saw what came out of that; nothing good. This whole Underground journey of mine's really done something to me. When I first realized it, I thought it was just turning me into some weak-minded fool of some sort, but...when I delved a little deeper into things, I realized something."

"What'd you realize?"

"Well...I told you this myself when we first met here, but now that I'm a hundred percent sure, I'll say it again; tenderness is a strength, even if it doesn't look like it at first. And so is kindness, and MERCY. I used to think those things brought someone down, and made them weak. But if you use 'em the right way, then...Well, if you'll pardon the pun, they can work like magic."

"Heh heh...I get it...B-because monsters use that."

"Heh...Egh..."

She scowled again.

"So...you_ like_ like Undyne, eh?"

"Uh...Yeah, heh...I do."

"Gave up on Asgore?"

"Yeah. Too far out there...Uh...S-sorry if this...um...bothers you."

"Don't worry about it. In fact...You know what a wise man once told me, not so long ago?"

"What'd he tell you?"

Ginger cleared her throat.

"...'If we only based our views of people off of their flaws, then how would anyone ever make any friends'?"

"Huh...Th-that's...deep."

"Deep as his SOUL."

Ginger drew in a deep breath again, and let it out through her nostrils.

"A lot of this mess is my fault. If...I don't know if there's anything I can do at this point to fix this, but if there is, then tell me what I can do. I'll help."

"Y-you will?"

The human nodded, and Alphys sighed again.

"C-can I...explain a few things to you a-about this, then? That you...might not know about? It's...kind of important."

"I'm listening," she answered, scooting a bit closer.

"I...I-I wanna tell her h-how I f-feel," she told the human. "But she's...a-all upset now, and there's...th-there's a lot of stuff I've told her that, uh...W-well, I was...trying to impress her, and...s-stretched the truth about a lot of things t-to make myself look a-a lot cooler than I actually was. And sh-she thinks it's all true, and...she regards me so highly, it's...If she found out the truth, she'd...b-be heartbroken, and...she'd never f-forgive me. I-I know you forgave me, for what I did t-to you, b-but I've been doing this ever since before you came here. It...won't be that easy."

"Is...this the thing you told me you couldn't tell anyone you did."

"Ah, no. Heh heh...Heh...Th-that's w-worse than this. By far..." Alphys whimpered, hugging her knees up against herself. "And this is already bad by itself. I mean...Really, who am I to think I have a chance with her after all this? I mean, y-you had a different experience with her, a-and got on her bad side just by b-being human. But really, she  
...Sh-she's so strong, and funny, a-and confident...And I'm just a nobody. A fraud, that's what I am. I might be the Royal Scientist, but...All I've ever done is hurt people. I-if she finds out, then...I-I'm scared to think of what might happen. What do I do?"

"Well...I know you're not going to want to hear this, but the best thing you can do is come clean; give her the truth."

"The t-truth!? R-right when I next see her!?"

Ginger nodded in response.

"A-are you sure? It's...It's not better to l-live a lie where both of us are happy...Than a truth where neither of us are?"

She shook her head.

"Bad mentality. Especially if you slip it up somehow. And once the cat's out of the bag, there's no putting it back. It's best to just be honest."

"I-I don't know. I mean...I know they say to 'be yourself,' but...I don't really like who 'myself' is. Wouldn't it be better to just be wh-whatever other people like? Eheheheh..."

She forced a laugh, but it wasn't long before it disappeared along with her awkward smile, and she brought a hand to her face.

"...No, you're right. I-I've been doing this for too long..."

Alphys paused for a moment, her eyes filling with horror. She realized what she had to do.

"B-but I...I don't have the confidence, I'll mess it up and make it worse!"

"Then...You'll have to practice."

"P-practice? How do I do that?"

Ginger rubbed her chin with her forefinger for a few moments in thought, then perked back up and snapped her fingers.

"I got it," she smirked. "Everyone down here's been comparing me to Undyne in one way or another, right?"

"Well, at-at least some, yeah."

"I'll be your 'practice dummy.' Just pretend I'm Undyne, and you say what you wanna say."

"Y-you mean like, sort of a, uh...r...roleplay?"

"Whatever you wanna call it."

The monster thought about it for a second, then chortled at the idea.

"That...actually sounds kinda fun! Heh...O-okay, so, uh, h-how to we start this off?"

"Well, first off," the human answered, standing back up from the trash heap they'd been sitting on. "This is a face-to-face deal. If you do it side-by-side, you'll catch her off guard, and she needs to know how serious it is before it even gets to her. You gotta look that fish right in the eye and tell her everything."

To emphasize, she tightly shut her left eye and pointed at the right one.

"Uh...Well, I-if you say so," she agreed, huddling up onto the pile of rubbish some more.

"You gotta stand, too. Standing exhibits an aura of confidence. People will take you seriously when you do."

"Stand tall. Face-to-face. Got it. So...U-uh...Do we, uh, s-start?"

The Huntress pulled her striped sweater off in preparation and shoved it back into her messenger bag.

"On the count of three."

She turned her back towards Alphys, and the latter did the same.

"One."

"Okay..."

"Two."

"I can do this."

"Aaand..."

"It'll be fine...It'll...ah..."

"Three."

They turned to face each other again. The raptor saw that Ginger had even shut her left eye and rolled up her short orange and white-striped sleeves to amp up the realism.

...Either that or she'd just taken the opportunity to mock Undyne. But whichever she was trying at, it was working.

"Um..." Alphys stammered. "H-hi, Undyne. How, uh, how are you doing today?"

"Hey, nerd! Today was epic!"

_Holy crap, she's good at that._

Her impersonation of the fish monster was nearly spot on. She even did the overbite thing with her teeth.

"Wow...Ha! Ha...G-glad to hear it! Uh, what'd you do?"

"Stabbed some things, beat some wimps up with my bare fists, set my house on fire again...You know, the usual."

"Oh...Uh...C-cool."

Maybe she was _too_ good at this.

"So...um...Anyway, I, uh...I'd like to...um...talk to you. About something. I-important."

"Important, you say, huh? What's goin' on, is there a human for me to skewer alive 'round here?"

"N-no, it's, ah...not about that. It's more of something...S-something between y-you and m-me."

"Oh...So it's a SECRET that there's a human 'round here for me to skewer alive!"

"N-no, there's no human...Well, I mean, even if there was, it wouldn't really, uh...m-matter, y-you know?"

"Auuuuuuugh, _daaaaaaamniiiiiiiit..._I wanted to kill something."

"Understandable. B-but, uh...This is kinda serious."

"Oh...Well, spill the beans, come on."

"W-well...um...Y-you see, I...well...I h-haven't been exactly...a-a hundred percent truthful w-with you about a few...n-no a LOT of things, a-actually."

"I've been deceived!? I oughta get a warrant for your arrest..."

"No, no, please don't do that, Undyne...!"

She actually seemed genuinely afraid of such a thing.

"I...uh...C-can I just...tell you what I wanted to tell you?"

"...Sure. What is it?"

"I...W-well, y-you see, some of the things I've, uh, s-said about some things aren't exactly...well...like when we...And that I...I..."

Her eyes were getting moist again, and Ginger dropped the act for a moment when she realized this.

"Alphys?"

"Oh, forget it!" she suddenly burst out. "Undyne, I-I want to tell you how...h-how I feel!"

The human stood silent and attentive as the Royal Scientist gave her good-to-honest confession.

"Y-you're so brave, a-and s-strong and nice...A-and you always l-listen to me wh-when I talk about...n-n-nerdy stuff, and y-you go out of your way to...t-to make me f-feel special, like t-telling me you'll b-beat up anyone who g-gets in my way, o-or tries to hurt me...I-I thought maybe we might...W-well, What I really want to s-say is...i-is..."

"...Alph?"

"Oh, I _can't TAKE _THIS ANY LONGER!"

It went from one extreme to the other in no time flat, and the young human was so startled by this that she ended up backing away from her as she practically screamed out into the garbage dump for all to hear in a passionate gush.

"UNDYYYYNE! I'M **_MADLY _**IN LOVE WITH YOU!" she proclaimed. "AND I WANT US TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER! HOLD ME, UNDYNE, HOLD ME LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD!"

"Whoa..."

She'd been impressed with her raving over the phone with her about her favorite television show, but THIS? She didn't care about the context; this was by the must enthused she'd ever seen or heard her, and she was proud of her friend.

...But maybe she was _freaking out_ a little, too.

"Cool it just a bit, Al, or you won't have any energy to-"

"_WHAT _did you just say!?"

The voice came from behind. They both turned their attention toward its owner.

There stood the Captain of the Royal Guard, and she stared down at Alphys as though she was about to explode.

Which she just might have done, but the sight of Undyne was the bucket of water that doused the fuse.

"Un...Undyne!"

_Oh, no, no, no, how much of that did she hear!?_

"We were...I mean...I was just-"

"Whoa, hey, hold on just a second, Alphys," she interrupted. "Heh...You know, that outfit's really cute."

"R-really?"

"Heck yeah, I do. What's the occasion?"

"Um..."

Undyne glanced off to the side...and then her eye fell onto the human, who was staring right back, expression blank. The fish monster looked to Alphys, then to Ginger again. She put two-and-two together, then saw just what was happening.

"...Wait a second," she realized, her anger boiling back up again. "Are you two...on a DATE!?"

"Um, uh, YES!"

She gave the Huntress a deathly stare, and she rose her hands in defense as the monster summoned a spear.

"I knew it...You _sabotaged_ me! Now you're gonna get it!"

"WAIT, no! Th-that's not what I mean, we weren't really!"

She turned her attention to the Royal Scientist again, weapon dissipating.

"I mean, well, not exactly, but, I mean, we were, but, I-I mean we were romantically roleplaying as you! NO, NO, THAT'S EVEN WORSE! I MEAN...I mean...!"

"..._What?_" she responded, visibly confused.

The little dinosaur looked to the Huntress for further instructions, but all she did was back away and sit back down on the trash heap to watch from a distance. Alphys was in a state of silent panic, and she shrugged and motioned toward her crush, clueless as to how she would do this; they'd barely had time to practice!

But Ginger just nodded confidently. There was to be no more practice. It was time to come clean.

"Un...U-Undyne, I've..." she began. "I've been lying to you!"

"What!?" the captain exclaimed. "About what!?"

"About, w-well...Everything!"

Alphys didn't realize it, but as she admitted the truth, she slowly approached her.

"I-I told you that seaweed was like...s-scientifically important, but really, I just...I just use it to make ice cream! A-and those h-human history books I keep reading? Th-those are just dorky comic books! And the human history movies are all just...anime. Th-they aren't real!"

The captain's eye got big at first, but as the Royal Scientist drew closer, it developed a tender glint. By now, she was right in front of her, though still shrunken back in fearful shame of herself.

"And...R-remember that time I told you I was b-busy with work on the phone? I was...I was just sitting around eating frozen yogurt in my pajamas! I was too nervous to talk to you! A-and that time I t-told you about-"

"Alphys."

All she had to do was say her name and she stopped.

"I...I just w-wanted to impress you," Alphys admitted, voice trembling. "I-I just wanted you to think I was...smart, a-and cool, and not some...nerdy loser."

"Alph', it...It's okay."

Undyne bent down to her level.

"I...I got the letter you sent," she squeaked. "I-I never...I didn't think-"

"Alphys?"

She put a hand atop her head and stroked it in attempt to comfort her.

"Un...Undyne, I..." she sniveled, tears burning in the corners of her eyes again. "I-I'm sorry, I just...I really think you're neat, okay?"

That was the selling point; she _hated _seeing her cry.

"Alphys..."

Undyne gently put her arms around her and brought her in for a hug, their heads rested on each others' shoulder.

"I...I-I don't deserve you."

"_Shhhh..._" she soothed, rubbing a hand up and down her back to calm her down. "I'm right here, okay?"

"I...I-I like you, too."

The fish monster let out a light chuckle.

"I caught onto that part."

And it was then that she tightened her grip on Alphys and lifted her clean off the ground.

"Whoa..."

_She's...she's holding me._

She went bright red again, and her smile returned.

"Al, listen. I think you're neat too...But you gotta realize, most of what you said doesn't matter to me. I don't care if you're watchin' cartoons or reading those history books, or whatever."

"Y-you don't?"

"N'aw. Come on. That's all just...nerdy crap. It's not really my thing."

"Oh..."

"What I like about you is that you're passionate. Analytical. Doesn't matter what it is; what matters is that you're into it. 100 percent. And it's awesome!"

"Y-y-you really think so?"

"You better believe it. So, you don't have to lie to me, alright? I don't want you to have to lie to anyone anymore, just because you feel like you're not good enough. Because _I_ think you're good enough, okay? And you can take my word for it, can't you?"

"I..." she stuttered, another tear slipping. "I-I'll try, but-"

Before she could finish, Undyne leaned in and lightly pressed her lips against her forehead. Alphys' eyes bugged out the moment she processed what'd just happened.

"...Did...D-did you just-"

"Duh."

"Oh...U-Undyne..."

They touched foreheads, and stayed that way. Ginger watched the entire scene play out from the trash pile. Honestly, all of this had gone better than she'd expected. Alphys had mustered the courage to come clean to Undyne, the latter had accepted the confession, and now they were together. Alphys was happy. Undyne was happy. Everything was warm, fuzzy and lighthearted. It was...It...

"_Blegh,_" Ginger gagged, just not quite able to get on board with their romance. "It's still gross..."

The fish monster didn't comprehend the human's speech from the distance she was at, but when she heard her mumble, she carefully lowered Alphys back onto the ground and made her way towards her adversary, her eye flashing a deathly glow.

"As for YOU..." she threatened, summoning her spear again. "I think it's about time I teach you a-"

"No, no, Undyne, wait!"

She lowered her weapon some and looked back at the Royal Scientist.

"D-don't fight anymore, please," she begged. "Sh-she helped me, actually. She helped me practice, and gave me a c-confidence boost...If it hadn't been f-for her, then...We wouldn't have..._I_ wouldn't have been able to...This wouldn't have happened. I know you don't like her, Undyne, but...She went out of her way for us here...f-for me. She's a great friend, Undyne. A-as great a friend as you are a...well, a..."

Undyne smirked.

"Go on, say it."

"A g...girlfriend?"

"There it is, right there!" she exclaimed. "Well...Alright, since you insist. Now get back over here."

They rejoined each other and locked into a warm embrace.

"So, I'm willin' to bet you were glad to get all that off your chest, huh?"

"Yeah...I guess it's always best to come...clean with...with...th-the truth..."

"Something wrong, Alphy'?"

The smaller monster pulled away, fear flashing in her brown gaze. She realized something.

She realized what she had to do.

"I..." she said to the captain, lightly pulling away from her. "I have to go do something. A-at the lab...alone, for a while."

"Alph', whatever it is, you can go ahead and tell me."

"Not now...I have to go..."

"Alphys? Come on, we just-"

"I'm sorry, b-but it's important. You'll catch wind of it, though, I...I promise. S-sorry I had to cut this short, but...this is something I've been putting off for way too long."

"...Okay. But you mind headin' over to Snowdin with me after all of this so we can continue this train of thought? I'll meet you back here and we can go there together."

"That...that sounds wonderful. I-I'll see you later, Undyne," she bid, making her way out of the Trash Zone. "I-in the mean time, why don't you and Ging' work your problems out some? Just...no more fights, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind. For your sake."

"Great. Th-thank you. Erm...bye."

Before she left the dump altogether, she took a deep breath, then rasped to the Huntress.

"Meet me at the lab in an hour," she told her. "By yourself. It's...urgent."

"What's going on...?" Ginger whispered.

"It's...the 'thing.'"

The human's eyes widened, and stayed locked onto the feathered creature as she hurried out of the garbage dump and disappeared. This would be important.

"What'd she say?" Undyne asked her, having noticed the brief exchange.

"Oh, she, uh, just thanked me for helpin' her out," Ginger claimed. "But anyways, are you two, like...dating now?"

"Are you retarded? What do you think you just watched?"

"That'll do, captain," Ginger scolded. "What just happened beforehand was too close to another all-out war. One more clash like the first one and one of us could end up really bad off...or worse, and the sufferers will be everyone we know. And I mean everyone. We need to sign a Cold War pact; we lay low whenever anyone else is around and only fight about crap when we're alone. This is stronger than just a verbal agreement, especially now that we've seen the consequences."

She extended a hand to meet her with.

"...I like that idea. I'm on board."

Undyne met her halfway with a firm shake. The deal was made.

"...Can we at least still roast each other in front of the peeps?"

"I'll allow that," Ginger agreed. The mockery flung around in their squabbles was the least of everyone's concerns.

"So, everything went alright," the captain affirmed. "Well...In that case..."

Without any warning, she grabbed the human by the shoulders and pulled her right in, her face halting just inches away from hers.

"Oh. My. GOD," she nearly yelled, her yellow eye wide with shock. "She was just kidding about that, right!?"

"About what...!?"

"All those cartoons, the comics...Hah...Th-they're all still real, right?"

"You're cutting off the blood to my arms again."

"ANIME IS REAL, RIGHT!?"

"NO! It isn't! It's all fake! Get off of me!"

She staggered backwards in disbelief. Everything she'd ever believed about humans, and their amazing history...dashed to pieces, just like that.

"No...NOOOO, please no! AURGH! My SOUL! I CAN FEEL IT BREAKING APART! It's...scattering into a million pieces..."

Ginger watched as the Captain of the Royal Guard fell to her knees in horrible emotional agony, looking just about ready to cry herself. It was HILARIOUSLY pathetic...But the human managed to keep a straight face.

"...No," Undyne finally croaked. "I...I can survive this. I have to be strong. For everyone...for Alphys."

She stood back to her feet.

"So...you're SURE you guys don't have magical gunswords and crazy powers up there?"

"Pretty positive. But don't you guys have those things down here?"

"Um...sort of? I mean, not to the same degree as what I-"

"Then that settles that."

"Fine...Uh...I guess I should, like, thank you for tellin' me that. Man...Imagine if I went up there thinkin' that."

"You'd humiliate yourself in front of everyone."

"No kidding."

"Not to mention drive everyone away with your hideous face."

"Don't push it."

Silence returned to resume its reign, but only briefly.

"...I gotta go. Maybe, uh...go grab some grub before I go back to New Home...or something."

"You meet Asgore?"

"Yeah. And I'll have you know I followed your advice," Ginger assured her. "Had a bit of a conversation with him...Not sure if he's fully convinced to let me go yet, but it went okay. He sent me off to tend to anything I had left to do before we, uh...settled the matter in the worse way."

"Well...It's a start. Say, I gotta head back to the winter wasteland and alert the bone bros. You go, uh, disappear somewhere, I guess. Later, punk."

"See you 'round, fish."

Undyne made a mad dash west through the dump, leaving the Huntress behind. Once she was gone, Ginger wiped away the sweat that'd accumulated along her forehead and huffed out an exasperated sigh.

"Boy, and I thought I couldn't like you any less, Undyne," she remarked. "Well...at least it's mutual."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Okay...Well. That went...alright. Very alright, actually," Alphys said to herself as she smoothed her outfit down and stepped back into the lab. "Heh...Can't wait for later. It-"

She stopped short when she spied a foreign object on the floor; it was a piece of paper, but too far away from the lab doors to have been slid under. The thing wasn't even in an envelope. What was this?

"Psh...What if it were a love letter from Asgore?" she mused, picking up the sheet to read it. "Oh, that'd just be-"

"**_I KNOW WHAT YOU DID._**"

Time seemed to freeze. The ambiance of the lab was shut out from her ears. Alphys stared down at that sloppily scrawled-out text for what felt like hours, still as stone, wide-eyed, and mouth agape in utter shock, disbelief, and horror.

"...Wh...Who wrote this..." she asked hoarsely, to nobody in particular.

Her claws were shaking so badly that they ended up dropping the paper. And once the sinister note fell onto the floor, Alphys finally unfroze, staggering backwards, almost positive that her heart had stopped beating long ago.

Ginger was supposed to come in an hour. She couldn't have written this...Someone else knew. And soon, the Huntress would as well.

The Royal Scientist finally drew in a ragged breath, then rushed up the escalator to get back into one of her lab coats. She had to get down there. She had to hide. And if she couldn't do that, if the Royal Guard came looking for her, she would have to escape. Run away to somewhere she would never be found. She couldn't even trust Undyne with this...Not now.

And maybe not ever. It was too much.

She decided she might as well do herself in at that point. Turn herself to dust so nobody would ever have to be bothered worrying about her ever again. Everything that had happened at the Trash Zone was nothing more than a flash of happiness in her bleak outlook.

...But she'd been right before. She'd been putting this off for far too long.

A hand still over her chest, Alphys got out her own piece of paper and wrote down her message on it, aware that it might just be the very last thing she wrote.

The Underground had to know.

Even if she didn't live to see the day.

* * *

**A.N.: Views expressed by the characters are not necessarily those expressed by the author. XP**

**Yeah, I know I kinda went out on a limb with this chapter with the conflicting ideologies the Pure Ones have on this type of thing, but not a lot of other people go in this direction, and I wanted to spice things up a bit. You don't normally see Frisk/OC inserts turning their noses up at it, so despite the heavy controversy, it's an interesting character trait to have in this world, and especially since we see how Ginger handles the matter.**

**But anyway, if you didn't like the way I did this, sorry 'bout that. Don't like, don't comment...but also don't worry! If you know what comes next in the True Pacifist Route, then you can bet the next chapter's gonna be WAY better!(not to mention, a lot more fun to write for me, lol.)**

**Later, folks! :D**


	36. Chapter 34: Fallen Kingdom

**A.N: Brace yourselves, everyone. This is the longest chapter yet!**

* * *

"did i ever mention she has armor?"

"Armor? Where ever did she manage to get ahold of that?"

"she did a favor for someone and got paid back...you don't happen to remember the temmies, do you?"

"Temmies...Those the little cat-dogs that live in Waterfall? I never saw them that much, but whenever I did, they always seemed like...very entertaining little things, I might say. You mean to say that...one of them made her a suit of armor?"

"a while ago. before the last time we spoke, really. just thought i'd let you know, she's well prepared for pretty much anything down here...even the king."

"The king..." she sighed. "Please...When they meet each other, spare me the details."

"oh, they already met each other."

"They WHAT!?"

"went well, i heard. heck, the kid had teatime with him."

"I...I am not sure I am hearing this right..." the woman in the Ruins replied. "It sounds like you said that the human...had 'teatime' with King Asgore."

"nope. you heard that right. they sat down, chatted, and he let her go...for now, at least. she said something about 'unfinished business'. but knowing her, she still might convince him to let her off the hook for good. dunno how, but i got a feelin'."

"I...Well, this is certainly...unexpected news, to say the least. I...I hate to cut this short, young man, but I think I need to leave now."

"yeah, i understand. well...see ya soon."

"Goodbye, my friend."

She heard the sound of the mystery-monster's feet crunching farther and farther away through the snow outside until they disappeared. Once she knew she was alone, Toriel let herself slide down against the door and sit on the stony ground, head in her pawed hands. King Asgore was a brute; he'd killed six human children for their SOULs, likely in a bloodthirsty rage, and vowed to destroy every human on the face of the earth once the first seven had been collected.

What happened to the man she used to know? The kind, caring, lovable goofball she'd fallen in love with all those centuries ago? That monster, who'd once formally escorted a housefly back outside instead of reaching for the swatter, now had the blood of six innocent human children on his hands. How did he sleep at night? He couldn't possibly still be the same kind of person anymore, there was no way...was there?

"Teatime, indeed..." she swiftly denied. "I would not be surprised if it's just a ruse to catch her off-"

She was interrupted by a noise from outside. A...strangely familiar noise.

It sounded like it was coming from the foot of the door, and she bent down to listen; it was the frantic, desperate chirping of a bird.

_It can't be...In that weather? How..._

Slowly, quietly, and very hesitantly, she opened the door leading to the outside, just by a few inches...

But those few inches were enough space for the visitor to enter through, and a little yellow blur zipped in through the gap, hopping and flitting about victoriously as soon as it realized it was back in the Ruins, emitting happy chirps.

It slowed down some, and Toriel got a better look at the figure. It was actually...

"Why...It IS you!"

The bird chirped out a welcome, and the Boss Monster bent down and cupped her hands to let it hop into them.

"I never thought I would see you again, it has been so long!" she gasped. "What are you doing here, little one? Is it not freezing out there?"

It ruffled its feathers, releasing some of the cold snow from its plumage, then chirped again, tapping on something it was holding with one of its claws.

Toriel only now realized that its thin little talons were wrapped securely around a tightly rolled-up piece of paper.

"What have you there?"

The bird fluttered down to the ground, leaving the note in her paws.

"Is this...supposed to be for me?"

She didn't know who it might be from...Oh, if only she still had her phone, she might have been able to get ahold of them, but that accursed dog had ran off with it nearly the minute Ginger left the Ruins, and she hadn't seen either since.

The monster untied the loose knot in the paper strip keeping the paper furled, unrolled it until it was opened all the way, then began to read aloud.

She was not prepared for what she was about to behold.

"_Dear Queen Toriel,_

_If you're reading this, it means that my little feathered messenger got to the Ruins safely. I, as well, am safe, at least for the time being,  
and seeing that you've exiled yourself to the Ruins for so long, I thought I might give you a synopsis of what I have learned throughout  
my travels, as well as a few reasons you might decide to come join us.  
_

_First off, there is a Royal Guard established in order to protect the king. Said guard also did away with most of the six humans that came  
before me, and I have heard, through oral sources, that Asgore himself only has the blood of the first victim on his own paws. In fact, you  
may not believe this, but I am quite sure that I myself have taken more lives in my time than him. I mentioned my group above during  
my stay with you; we're a military organization, and I was often required to kill in order to defend us. And unlike Asgore, I do not mourn  
the blood I have shed with my own hands. My LOVE is far higher than it should be for someone my age, and as such with high LOVE, I  
had distanced myself, and grew hardy through the gruesome art of war.  
_

_Second, I discovered the tragic past of the Underground while I traversed New Home, while on my way to meet his Majesty for the first  
time. I know everything about what happened; the first human, your son, your former status, the declaration of war on humanity, and  
how the tragedy shattered the monarchy. I am deeply sorry for the loss you and the king endured, and I highly praise and honor the late  
prince for his bravery that day, along with the first human who accepted you all as the wonderful people you are, as I have. However, I  
must point out that your desertion of the king and kingdom during their greatest time of need was disastrous; looking back upon history,  
you were one of the only ones with the potential to stop the massacre before it could start. As much as it pains me to admit this, and no  
matter what you might have done to keep those humans safe within in the Ruins, you appear to be at least partially responsible for the  
terrible events that followed. I do not fully condone Asgore for his own brash decisions, but as a warrior AND a diplomat, I tend to look at  
both sides of the spectrum, and each side seems, at an extent, to be at err. Now having said this, I will not __reprimand anyone any more  
than need be; you were both dealing with a sudden and horrible loss, and I doubt either of you were completely in your right minds that  
day. And even so, despite it having to be made plain, I myself am in no place to say any of this; as stated earlier, I have done far more  
and far worse things than either of you combined.  
_

_As for the third thing, this entirely concerns your former spouse, King Asgore. I'll have you know I met him in person; I found him in the  
Throne Room, tending to his(impressively massive) flower garden, and when he discovered the human standing there, it was more than  
obvious that the last thing he wanted was to have me killed. He does not want power. He does not want to harm anyone or anybody. All  
he wants is for the people down here to have hope. His past deeds haunt him, and the burden he carries for having called on the grim task  
of freeing us threatens to crush him at any moment. I can see it in his eyes. And I'm not sure how much this matters to you at this point,  
but I feel I should tell you regardless; the king still pines for you. He regrets everything he has ever done to hurt you, and he was not even  
aware of your residence in the Ruins, and the fact that you tried to protect the six humans(perhaps until I hinted at it towards the end of  
my visit.) If it improves the situation, when I return to his castle, I might just be able to convince him to call it off. I'll be going back to New  
Home as soon as I finish my business with incumbent Royal Scientist, Dr. Alphys(a close and personal friend of mine.) Should you decide  
to meet me there, I only have one request. Asgore will be there, and if you can't accept his silent pleas for you to return to him, then I ask  
that you at least forgive him. You don't remember what I did, yet you still forgave me. My goal is no longer to escape the Underground. I  
only wish to make peace with the king, as almost all of his citizens are already on my side.  
_

_Depending on how long I stay at the Hotland Laboratory, I should be arriving at the castle sometime before midnight tonight. Without the  
sun and moon to tell me when to call it a day, I find myself sleeping a lot less. And despite having the time on my phone, I almost never  
bother to check it, so I don't keep track of time as well as I once did. Isn't that something?_

_That is all I have to say. At least consider what I've written here before deciding your next move. __I'll see you again, maybe soon._

_Best regards,_

_Ginger Wingren._"

"This...What...?"

She was in utter disbelief as to what she'd just read, her paws beginning to clench into fists and wrinkle the paper. How did Ginger know all of this? How dare she bring it up!? How dare she criticize her for fleeing the monarchy for the safety of the Ruins after the king's horrible declaration of war!? If she'd stayed there, she would have had to assist in the horrible series of murders, and then she would have REALLY given Asgore what he deserved...

And...she would have found a way to stop him, and...none of this...would have...

"Mother of God..."

The human was right. She WAS partly to blame here.

But what about Asgore? The last time she saw him, he'd just gotten done screaming out against humanity, vowing to the monster citizens to slaughter every one on the face of the earth. Something in him had snapped that day; his blue eyes flashed with a flame she never thought she'd see in him, burning with hatred. It was horrible; she didn't think that newfound fire would ever die...But according to the young human, it had gone out long, long ago. Only ONE human at his own hands? The first to fall since his proclamation? And what about the Royal Guard Ginger spoke of here? How many of the other five had THEY killed? And when she was on the surface...her LOVE. She'd done WORSE than Asgore? THIS was a hard pill to swallow; what sorts of vile acts had the young human, whom she'd guided through the Ruins and even tried to keep with her, carried out up there? True, none of it affected her directly, as what Asgore had done, but for someone like Ginger to claim that she had more blood on her hands that the king who vowed to destroy all humans? It was almost infathomable. What had she brought into her home? What was the Ginger from the surface really like?

...What was ASGORE really like?

Something Ginger said while she was still in the Ruins with her resurfaced from somewhere in her mind.

"_I can't just stay here in the Ruins. They need me back up there, and if I just ignore that, then...well...That's not just lazy and irresponsible, it's...disloyal._"

Disloyal. In a way, she'd betrayed Asgore as much as he had her.

She read the last part of the letter again; she would be in New Home again before midnight. She HAD to get there in time. What if the human COULDN'T change his mind? He would kill her, or have someone else do it for him, like he did the five; he was only one SOUL away from fulfilling his horrible swear to the people. There was a slim chance, if any, that he could deny them freedom when they were so close.

As for Asgore having longed for her all this time...well...that discussion would have to wait, should she be able to keep one with him without giving into the urge to conjure a fireball and send it flying right at him, the pathetic whelp. If he really wanted to free the citizens, then instead of just meekly waiting down here, hoping another human never came while everyone suffered, he could have just taken one SOUL, used it to cross the Barrier and acquire the other six needed to free everyone WITHOUT the bloodshed...

...But someone had tried that before.

And it had cost him his life. The life of a poor, innocent youth...dead at the hands of humans.

A surge of anger swept over her. This...THIS was what Asgore felt that day. It might not excuse him from killing them, but she at least knew what he felt now.

And if the king died trying what their fallen son had, then the Underground would have nothing left to look up to except...

At least she knew that both Ginger and Asgore still alive, now. And now that she knew, she intended to keep it that way. And if Asgore called for a fight between them...if the young human didn't fall in defeat, then...

HE would.

No. It wasn't right to allow her to do that. Hadn't this been what she wanted to prevent the whole time?

What a job she'd done of it...

"...Little bird," she said to the messenger. "You have done your job well."

Joss puffed out the sunny yellow feathers on his chest.

"I am leaving this place. Come with me through Snowdin; I'll keep you warm until we get to Waterfall. And there you may go where you please...I have a war to stop."

The finch nodded, perching on Toriel's shoulder and watching her roll the letter back up to tuck into the pocket of her robes. Then, for the first time in a decade, she reached out and fully opened the doors to the Ruins. A blast of cold smacked her in the face; her fur was strong against it, but she hadn't been outside the Ruins in so long that she'd gotten too used to the stuffy, temperate climate. She stepped out onto the snow and looked around; there wasn't much of anything different since the last time she was out here...save for a bush that'd grown just outside the doors.

But she didn't have time to admire her surroundings. Her gait brisk, she marched out of the Ruins, Joss still on her shoulder, leaving the great stone doors wide open. Toriel didn't care if she never returned. All she cared about was the fate of the world. The former queen knew now that she'd been sitting there idle for too long. It was about time she put a stop to this, confront King Asgore and knock some sense into him.

Before it was too late.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Well...It's about time to head on over there."

Ginger had the time displayed on her phone; October 25th, 8:28 p.m., nearly an hour after they'd last met...The **Saves**, **Loads** and **Resets** really messed with her sense of passing time. Seemingly only several hours earlier, she was walking around Ebbot Village looking at all of the Christmas decorations put out. In this timeline, December still had yet to arrive, and there was no snow coating the ground on the surface.

But none of that was her main concern right now. She was about to see just what Alphys' big secret was. It couldn't be anything good, that was for sure.

Finally, the human made it back to Hotland. She got two more generous swigs of water at the cooler to wet her throat before approaching the metal sliding doors. She looked down at the time again; 8:31 p.m.

_I guess I should go in there, now,_ she decided.

The doors to the lab were unlocked this time, welcoming her inside. Nothing much had changed since the last time she'd been in there, except...

The Huntress spied a piece of paper on the floor, right outside the door to the room Alphys had emerged from the first time they met face-to-face. There was a bathroom sign next to it, but this turned out to be misleading; when she drew near the door to inspect the paper, it slid open, instead revealing the inside of an elevator.

"Hm...That's a tad queer."

She wondered why Alphys had decided to disguise the room as a restroom of all things; monsters had no use for those...except for maybe to clean themselves in, but then wouldn't it instead be called a "washroom"? Actually, now that she thought about it, it was really a genius idea. Since monsters didn't use the bathroom, they would have no reason to go in there, and with it being locked most of the time, they wouldn't try to.

But now it was open, and the elevator sat there waiting for her. Before she went in, Ginger scooped the note up off the ground and scanned over the text. The handwriting was messy, and looked as though to have been written very slowly. The lines making up the letters were all squiggly, as though the hand that'd written them had been badly shaking the whole time. She could still read it, at least.

"_Hey._

_Thanks for your help back there. You  
guys...your support really means a lot  
to me. But...As difficult as it is to say  
this...you guys alone can't magically  
make my own problems go away. I  
want to be a better person. I don't want  
to be afraid anymore. And for that to  
happen, I have to be able to face my  
own mistakes. I'm going to start doing  
that now. I want to be clear, this isn't  
anyone else's problem but mine. But if  
you don't ever hear from me again...If  
you want to know "the truth"...Enter  
the door to the north of this note. You  
all at least deserve to know what I did._"

That was all she wrote. The human sighed deeply as she picked the note up, folded it to fit in her pocket, then boarded the elevator. What awaited her beyond the short ride?

This elevator only had two selections.

-**Lower Lab  
-New Home**

The elevator went to New Home, too? She remembered something Alphys said the first time they met.

"_I just so happen to know a way r-right to Asgore's castle from here!_"

"Yeah...You sure did," she mused. But all of that was in the past, and she was actually somewhat glad of it; if she'd known Alphys was playing her from the start, she never would have bothered with her, and she never would have found out how deeply she was in need of help. Besides, she was a good friend, really. And that was all Alphys had really wanted in the first place; some support and comfort from someone she could trust.

And Ginger was about to find out just WHY she needed it in the first place.

She selected the option for the lower floor of the lab, and the elevator began to descend.

...And then, as suddenly as it started up, it stopped.

"What the...There's no way we could be-"

Lights flashed.

Alarms blared.

The elevator was going down again. But there was nothing holding it up. It was falling. Plummeting. The automated system screamed as though it were panicking itself.

"**WARNING! WARNING!**"

"**ELEVATOR LOSING POWER!**"

"**EM TETHER STABILITY** **LOST!**"

"**ALTITUDE DROPPING!**"

Ginger was on the floor by now, frozen in panic. She was going to crash! How would she survive the fall!? How long was it even!? In desperation, she slid her bag off and put it in between herself and the floor, assumed the fetal position and braced herself, fearing the worst.

The sound of the elevator colliding with the ground rang in her ears, and at that moment, all of the lights went out, bathing everything in darkness.

...

...

"...Am I dead yet?"

The human opened her eyes, and was met with nothing but darkness. Oh, no...She wasn't in the void again, was she?

And come to think of it...When was the last time she SAVED?

"Oh, no...No, no, no, am I going to have to go through Waterfall all over again!? How am I-"

She stopped panicking when she heard the sound of sliding doors open, and some light finally made itself present.

Ginger looked around; she was still in the elevator, and it'd even opened up for her, revealing the basement floor of the lab. She felt around herself, checking for injuries; she was a might bruised in some places, and her right leg felt just a bit battered, but when she stood up, it proved able to support her...albeit with a bit of a limp. Huh...She had definitely expected a bit worse than this, considering the circumstances, so she figured she could get along just fine.

The dim light lead to a dark room, and the Huntress exited the elevator, planting her feet firmly on the teal-tiled floor. She turned to her left, as that was the only direction the path would go in, and walked along the dark hallway. The place didn't look to be in top condition. Faded paint, musty smell, cracks along the walls...She wasn't sure what sold it, but the lower lab's state of ruin gave off a very unsettling aura.

Ginger came across what looked like a plaque on the wall, but instead of just being a sheet of text, it was on a monitor, and it lit up as she passed it by. Ginger noticed this, and, curiosity piqued, read what was displayed there.

***ENTRY NUMBER 1**

**This is it...Time to do what the King has asked me to do.  
I will create the power to free us all. I will unleash the  
power of the SOUL.**

That was all it said. But this was labelled 'Entry Number 1." Maybe there were others?

It turned out, the whole hallway was lined with these automatically-displayed log entries. It looked like she would have to read them in numerical order. Ginger kept going, and drew near the second one to read it.

***ENTRY NUMBER 2**

**The Barrier is locked by SOUL power...Unfortunately,  
this power cannot be recreated artificially. SOUL power  
can only be derived from what was once living. So, to  
create more, we will have to use what we have now...  
the SOULs of monsters.**

She kept at it down the path and read the third.

***ENTRY NUMBER 3**

**But extracting a SOUL from a living monster would  
require incredible power...Besides being impractical,  
doing so would instantly destroy the SOUL's host.  
And unlike the persistent SOULs of humans, the SOULs  
of most monsters disappear immediately upon death.  
If only I could make a monster's SOUL last...**

There was one more entry along the wall before it turned a corner north.

***ENTRY NUMBER 5**

Wait...Number 5? One, two, three...five. What happened to Entry Number 4?

Maybe these entries weren't organized correctly? She didn't know how it worked...but she read it regardless.

**I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from  
the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their  
SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to  
keep living...the resolve to change fate...Let's call this  
power..."_Determination._"**

...So, **DETERMINATION **wasn't just a trait, was it? It was something every human SOUL possessed...though some had more than others.

The path turned north, and she followed the thin stretch of hallway up into the next room. There wasn't much in there; just a vending machine, another paper on the floor, a larger door leading into another section of the lab, and a fifth monitor on the wall that displayed the words "**POWER ROOM**". There was a Save Point to her left, just in front of a potted plant sitting in the corner.

***True Laboratory**

***File Saved**

The note on the floor caught her attention; it looked like Alphys' handwriting, with the squiggly lines indicating her nervousness. But this writing was even sloppier. She was surprised that she could make it all out...then again, she'd gotten the ability to read horrible handwriting from herself when SHE was learning to write. However, it did take a bit to dissect all of the letters.

"_The elevator lost power. In  
order to get it working, you'll  
have to enter the center door  
to access the control room._"

Alphys must have had the same problem with the elevators when she came down here. But where was Alphys? Maybe off tending to something down here? Well, before she went off to look for her, she decided to see if she could get the elevator working again, so she went for the door...

Only to find that it was locked.

It did have colored lights on it, coded red, yellow, green and blue; maybe the door keys and key slots were somewhere around the lab...?

Well, there was only one way to find out, and it certainly beat sitting around doing nothing like a nincompoop. Ginger looked for another place to go, and found that there was another stretch of hallway to the left of the room, leading somewhere else. Not having anything better to do, she went up that way, passing another monitor that displayed a log entry.

***ENTRY NUMBER 6**

**Asgore asked everyone outside the city for monsters  
that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today.  
They're still comatose...and soon, they'll all turn into  
dust...But what happens if I inject "_determination_"  
into them? If their SOULs persist after they perish,  
then freedom might be closer than we all thought.  
**

How long ago had these all been written? Nobody was free yet, so she couldn't imagine whatever had been done succeeded in that department.

The next room had a few operating tables lined up along the walls, as well as yet another monitor with an entry.

***ENTRY NUMBER 9**

These entries were skipping numbers again.

**Things aren't going well. None of the bodies have  
turned into dust, so I can't get the SOULs. I told the  
families that I would give them the dust back for the  
funerals. People are starting to ask me what's  
happening...What do I do?**

This was all very interesting so far; from what she could piece together, Alphys had been able to extract **DETERMINATION **from the already harvested human SOULs, having the intent to give the SOULs of monsters the same ability to live on after death...It was actually a bit disturbing to think about; if their SOULs were destroyed instantly upon death, instead of remaining to finish business or moving on to an afterlife, did that mean that every monster that'd ever died...just didn't exist anymore? She'd pondered the relations between the SOUL and consciousness before, but the two seemed to be intertwined with one another. There was no monster heaven, nor was there a monster hell. The dead of monsterkind were just...gone. Knowing this, it was really no wonder why Alphys, or ANYONE wouldn't want them to be destroyed upon the body's death. It was... scary, not having anywhere to go beyond oblivion.

Past the beds where the fallen once laid, there was another doorway leading to another room, and a few sets of sink cabinets sat beside it. Ginger checked the smaller room for anything else first; all she found was a slot on the wall and another sloppily-written note on the ground.

"_The key fell into the drain;  
I dropped it. You'll have to  
turn the sink on to see if  
it comes out._"

The sink...which sink?

The human went up to the row of faucets; there were three. Which one would she have to turn on?

"...Forget it. I'll just turn on all three."

So she did just that. The first faucet ran water, then the second one did, and then she turned on the third. The water didn't flow out immediately upon turning in on, though...

In fact, no water came out of it at all. Instead there came...

A white, slimy substance, and instead of going down the drain, it just...accumulated in the sink, piling up and getting bigger and bigger until...

Ginger froze.

Was she looking at a...face of some sort?

And then, the single mass separated into three, and those three piles of dripping, white goop assembled themselves into...

"...What. The actual. Sprink...!?" she rasped.

What WERE these things! They looked like a collection of contorted, melting faces all stuck atop a single stalk! She'd thought Flowey's giant demigod form was disturbing, but THESE THINGS?! The worst part was that they had no explanation! They were just...here!

Her SOUL flashed for a moment. They were engaging a battle.

The sound of static caught her attention, and she pulled out her phone. Through the interference, she could hear voices coming from the receiver.

"_Come and join the fun._"

The figures before seemed to swell, an uncannily intelligent glimmer entering their misshapen eyes. And then, across the battleground they'd made of the room, small white bullets appeared, scattered across in an unorganized fashion. What was this supposed to be?

Ginger found out right then and there. The white dots ballooned out into freakish, malformed faces!

They were quick to expand, and they were all over the place, disappearing after they deflated, only to regenerate as new dots. Even the evasive Huntress wasn't fast enough to avoid all of them, and three of the awful bullets struck her when they expanded.

Finally, the attack ceased, and Ginger listened in through her cell phone's receiver again.

"_It's a real get together. Won't you become one of us?_"

"I don't think so," she refused the creatures. "Where did you even come from? What are you?"

"_That is to remain a mystery," one of the voices answered, and one of the three figures rose its head. That was the one speaking. "All we are is the stuff of memories. Even the doctor knows not of us...But there is yet more for you to discover down here._"

"_So, that's a no, then?_" another voice chimed in as another of the beings rose its head to speak through the phone. "_Well, that's a shame...Oh, well. I don't believe we care much anymore. Good luck to you. We'll be finding our own peace, now._"

Just as suddenly as they'd materialized before her, the beings disappeared into thin air.

They said that Dr. Alphys didn't know about them...But if this didn't concern her, then what DID?

Something in the sink caught her attention. Something that shimmered a metallic red. It was a key in place of the strange monstrosities.

"Ah, here we go!" she realized, grabbing it and rushing into the smaller room with the slot in the wall to fit it into. It slid into the opening perfectly.

"That's one down...What else is around here, now?"

The Huntress backtracked to the Power Room, then followed the path to the right. It lead up to another door, which opened upon her having reached it. Two more monitors displaying log entries written on them lined the walls.

***ENTRY NUMBER 12**

**Nothing is happening. I don't know what to do. I'll just  
keep injecting everything with "determination." I want  
this to work.**

Ginger approached the next one.

***ENTRY NUMBER 13**

**One of the bodies opened its eyes.**

A body opened its eyes? Did that mean the DETERMINATION...revived the fallen monster? Had this happened to the other bodies?

The next room looked...oddly homey. The beds around the room weren't autopsy beds, rather actual beds, covered with faded pink comforters, all of them slightly dusty, and there was an empty dog bowl sitting just inside the door. She wandered inside and looked around. She spied a Save Point in the north right corner of the room, and passed a few of the beds to get to it...

And while she looked about, she noticed that one of the beds' covers looked like it'd been messed with. And something was jutting up a bit from under the covers.

Curiously, she lifted the blankets up. There sat a small yellow key.

"Well, well, well," Ginger said to herself. "How'd you get here, huh?"

She grabbed the key and stuck it on her phone's keychain, then drew near the Save Point.

***True Lab-Bedroom**

***File Saved**

The path lead into another room, and along the walls, across from the mirrors and monitors lining it, were rows of potted Golden Flowers. Odd...Maybe the log entries on the walls would provide some further insight.

***ENTRY NUMBER 7**

Ah, so THIS was where Number 7 went! These entries sure were jumbled up with each other.

**We'll need a vessel to wield the monster SOULs when the  
time comes. After all, a monster cannot absorb the SOULs  
of other monsters...Just as a human cannot absorb a  
human SOUL. So then...What about something that's  
neither human nor monster?**

There was another entry past the next mirror on the wall.

***ENTRY NUMBER 10**

**Experiments on the vessel are a failure. It doesn't seem to  
be any different from the control cases. Whatever. They're  
a hassle to work with anyway. The seeds just stick to you,  
and won't let go...**

"Hmm...Wonder what she tried to do with those things..."

She continued down the hallway, looking at her reflection in the mirrors along the wall as she went by.

"Man...What's with all the mirrors in here? It's kinda given me the-"

She halted in her tracks when she spied something foreign in the mirror behind her. It looked like a pair of...long, white, slender legs. Almost like those of a heron.

An odd noise came from behind, and, afraid of what she might see, Ginger slowly turned around to face whatever creature stood behind her.

Towering above the human was a tall, avian creature, with a long neck and mottled whites and greys. It head looked vaguely like...Were those the bodies of two Astigmatism fused together? Joining at the legs to form the pointed mandibles of a beak...!? And why did it look so...drippy and wet!?

"...What is this thing..." she whispered, both in horror and in awe.

The sound it emitted vaguely resembled...garbled voices, speaking overtop of each other. But it was so low and distorted that she couldn't understand it. Thoroughly spooked by this entity, she backed away. Its long legs strode after her, and the glint in its eyes was...very oddly curious.

In self defense, Ginger drew her bow and an arrow from her pack. The avian abomination drew its long neck back at the sight of it, seemingly threatened.

"What are you...?" she asked it. "What HAPPENED in here!?"

It answered again. Its speech was distorted, but she could just barely make out a couple of its words.

"...surface...pick...courage..."

All the rest was incomprehensible.

That was when the creature fired up an attack; a swarm of butterflies, grouped around the being's head and slowly fluttering out toward her...Butterflies. Normally, the flying creatures would pose no harm unless eaten, but there was something about these bullets that made the insects look so much more...disturbing. It wasn't right. In fact, this entire place seemed to have a feeling of 'not right' about it. Something had happened down here. Something bad.

And Dr. Alphys knew exactly what it was.

She carefully evaded the butterflies as they swarmed about her, only dissipating when it seemed like they would all home in around her. She held tight onto her arrow, then, perhaps to try and confuse the creature, deployed the same trick she had in the fight against Mettaton, shooting the arrow into the air and catching it as it came falling down. Another voice came from inside the strange...amalgamation of different monster parts, and it bent its long neck in an impressed nod.

"...impressed...have at...croooooak..."

Did...this bird just croak? Like a frog? Or more precisely...a _Froggit?_

It summoned another attack, conjuring up an odd, bird-like body, its rounded heads detaching and regenerating, acting as bullets heading towards her once they came off.

She ducked beneath the hellishly deranged attacks. There was something cursed about this place, it seemed. Only Glaux could save her from his hagsmire.

The assault stopped, but even during the calm, Ginger was on her knees, bent over, begging anyone-Glaux, Lupus, Hordox, the Highest One, ANYONE.

_Save me... _she begged to whatever deity might be listening. _Deliver me from this hell and guide me to safety..._

"Finally, someone gets it..."

She rose her head. The being spoke. And it had spoken _clearly,_ of all the things it could have emitted. And the voice sounded like an Astigmatism, coming from the head.

"Carry on," another voice told her, now coming from its center. "Freedom...may not be far."

"Rrrrribbit..." a third came from each of its wings.

This thing didn't just look like a bunch of different monsters...It WAS a bunch of different monsters. Astigmatism, Whimsalot...and Final Froggit. All jumbled up and smooshed together to form this...this plague doctor of a creature. It almost looked like a SOUL reaper of some sort...

"Eesh..." she mumbled. "I think I'm gonna call you 'Reaper Bird,' or something like that."

"How dare you..."

"Befitting..."

"Robbit..."

"Turn back...You need to know the rest before you return."

"Yeah...What he said."

"Croak..."

Reaper Bird nodded again, bowing its graceful neck, then backed into the shadows, almost seeming to fade away completely as it did so. Ginger obeyed the creature, turning back around down the hallway, passing the row of flowers on the counter again and back into the bedroom. There was another doorway leading up into yet another part of the True Lab, and beside it was yet another monitor, log entry displayed on it.

***ENTRY NUMBER 14**

**Everyone that had fallen down...has woken up. They're all  
walking around and talking like nothing is wrong. I thought  
they were goners...?**

So the DETERMINATION did help the fallen! Well, that was definitely good...But what the heck happened to the monsters composing Reaper Bird?

The path beyond the bedroom branched into two directions; left and right. Ginger spotted the monitors to her left, and decided to head that way first.

***ENTRY NUMBER 15**

**Seems like this research was a dead end. But at least we got  
a happy ending out of it...? I sent the SOULs and the vessel  
back to Asgore. And I called all of the families and told them  
everyone's alive. I'll send everyone back tomorrow. :)**

Aw...That was great. The fallen monsters were given the second chance they all deserved, all thanks to Dr. Alphys and the sheer power of...

***ENTRY NUMBER 16**

**no No NO NO NO NO NO**

"...Um...That doesn't sound happy."

She'd already gotten the idea through the encounter with Reaper Bird that something horrible had happened down here, and things were slowly coming together...but exactly WHAT the big, horrible event was, she still had yet to snap into one big picture. The only thing she could do was keep going and unravel more information.

There was a door along the hallway wall, leading into what looked like a washroom. The only thing in there was a bathtub at its opposite end, concealed by a purple curtain...

And there was something moving behind it, wagging like the tail of a dog.

With all the caution of someone approaching a sleeping bear, Ginger crept toward the curtain, bow and arrow ready to fire. The speed at which the figure shook increased as she drew closer, and then, when she was upon the curtain, she grabbed it, flung it open and pointed her weapon.

...Only to find there was nothing there. Nothing except...

"Um...Alphys? How'd this end up here?"

There was a key in the bottom of the tub, glimmering green. Maybe she left a note somewhere about that one, too, like she had the red one.

The human exited the room and continued down the hallway, and what was in the next section of the lab made her nearly jump clean out of her skin. There, attached to the wall, was a giant red, skull-like structure, wired with tubes and other devices. The dull image of a Save Point made itself visible along the path.

"I don't even want to know what that thing's for," she said to herself as she brushed a foot across the star.

...Odd. Normally, her foot would just go right through it, not tap it like it was a physical object. And why did it look like some of it...

...Stuck...right to her...foot, like...like...

A giant, growing pile of melting flesh and gnashing teeth!?

She was speechless; the creature was as tall as her, and stared right at her with peering eyes.

"I don't like the way you stare," it told her. It sounded like many voices were saying the exact same thing at the exact same time, unlike the unsynchronized speech that the entities composing Reaper Bird communicated with.

"Looks like I should teach you a lesson."

The monster's teeth began to glow, and its mouth opened wide as it advanced toward her, the bottom of its almost gelatinous form sloshing as it tried to move.

"Welcome to my special hell."

The Huntress was taken aback by this creature's gaping jaws and fangs, as well as its incredible speed for something with a body so slug-like. The tip of a tooth managed to graze her arm, letting the telltale shooting sensation course through it. When the monster stopped the attack, it looked at her again. It was weird, but...the gooey, pulsating flesh of the being seemed to emit a smell reminiscent of...lemons? Sweet lemons, to be exact, like someone had put them in their bread to bake. This wasn't exactly what she expected something like this to smell like...but Ginger supposed that she shouldn't complain about this.

This creature seemed to be a bit more organized than Reaper Bird, seeming able to communicate just fine.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" it asked her, leaning closer. Another thing she didn't expect out of it.

"Erm...Well, you at least smell okay," she dodged, backing up a bit to let the monster be. "Smells like lemon bread in here, or something like that."

"That's what they all say..."

"You make it out to be a bad thing."

Ginger sighed.

"You mind telling me about what happened down here?"

"It's a long story...and I'd rather not get into it. Except for the fact that we'd all like to..."

The creature flexed one of its arms. It was odd, but it looked vaguely like...Aaron's arm?

"Ugh...Go see our families again," it continued. "Please, ignore the arm; the other parts of me are _not _looking forward to seeing Aaron."

"He thinks he's all that, doesn't he?"

"I remember once he tried to flirt with me," it continued. "My sister gave him what for; berated him with her terrible singing...I hate to admit that last part. The last I saw of her looked like she was finally starting to improve...So, you look to be a human, right? What are you doing down here?"

"Dr. Alphys called me down here. I already met the king; after I leave, I'm gonna try to negotiate a peace deal, or something with him, erm...What do I call you?"

"I've grown used to people saying 'Lemon Bread' when they talk about me...Anyway, though, your idea sounds like a good one. I'll let you be, then. Dr. Alphys will be able to tell you more than I can. And in a better way."

Lemon Bread began to slosh away.

"You didn't happen to see her around here, did you?"

"About half an hour ago...I think. She was by all the refrigerators...She looked upset about something. But she often does. At least when she sees us."

"Fridges. Got it. I gotta keep lookin' around for the keys to the Power Room. If you see her anymore, let her know I saw you."

"Will do."

With that, Lemon Bread was gone in the direction the human had come from. Ginger looked around again, just to make sure there was nothing else suspicious in the area. No other monsters made themselves present here, but she DID spy, off the path going around the giant skull structure, yet another room, towards the north. Cautiously, she turned around and went up through the doorway. There was a T.V. in the room, sat atop the entertainment center, and it was hooked up to a hybrid VHS/DVD player. There were several shelves of other VHS tapes and DVDs on either side of it, but the ones that really stuck out were the ones sticking out just beside the tape player, labelled in a specific order with the numbers 1 through 5. There was a monitor on the wall to the left, and she decided to inspect that before taking a closer look at the cassettes.

***ENTRY NUMBER 4**

**I've been researching humans to see if I can find any info  
about their SOULS. I ended up snooping around the castle...  
And found these weird tapes. I don't feel like ASGORE's  
watched them...I don't think he should. **

Hmm...Interesting. Maybe she would discover something from these.

She took the first tape out of its box, then slid it through the slot. The television turned on automatically, and the tape began to play. She wondered what she might behold.

There was no video feed, but there was audio. And the sounds she heard were two familiar voices.

"_Pssst. Gorey...Wake up._"

"_Mmm? What is it, dear? Er...And why do you have that video camera?_"

"_Shush! I want to get your reaction!_"

"Is...Is that...Toriel...? And Asgore?" she realized.

"_Gorey, dearest...What is my favorite vegetable?_"

"_Hmmm...Carrots, right?_"

"_No, no, no! My FAVORITE vegetable is...Eda-MOM-e...*snort* Get it?_"

"_...Go back to bed, dear._"

"_No no! Not yet! Hee hee hee...Now, If I were a dog, what breed of dog would I be?_"

"_Hmmm... I don't know, honey. What kind of dog would you be?_"

"_I would be...A MOMeranian._"

"_Hohoho!_" Asgore chortled. "_You sure are excited to have this child. You know, if you keep making jokes like this...One day, you could be a famous...MOMedian._"

"_...Well, I am going to bed._"

"_Hey! Come on, Tori, that one was funny!_"

Toriel giggled in response.

"_Oh, I know. I am just teasing you...Goodnight, dear._"

"_Goodnight, honey..._"

"_...Oh, dear...Perhaps it is too dark in here for the camera to come out._"

This little slice of the past was definitely an eye-opener to the Huntress. Toriel and Asgore were more than just married back then; they'd practically been SOULMATES. And at this time, the queen had apparently been expecting Asriel...Neither of them had known of the horrors the future would bring.

It was...depressing, to say the least, hearing just how close they'd been back then, only to know how shattered it all was now.

But Ginger was still curious about the other tapes; she removed the first one and inserted the one labelled as number 2. The voices on this tape belonged to neither Toriel or Asgore, but rather different, albeit still familiar voices.

"_Okay, Chara! Are ya ready? Do your creepy face!_"

"_Alright, Azzy. You asked for it...!_"

"_AHHHHH! Hee hee hee...! Oh, wait! I had the lens cap on..._"

"_Aw, come on. I'm not doin' it again just now._"

"_What!? You're not gonna do it again-GYAHH!_"

"_Ha! Gotcha, didn't I?_"

"_Come on, quit tricking me! Haha!_"

The laughter was cut off as the tape ended. There was no doubt as to who these two were...It was Asriel. And Chara, the first fallen human. They both sounded so young, the prince especially...How long before the tragedy of their deaths was this taken?

She swapped the second cassette out for the third.

"_Howdy, Chara! Smile for the camera!_"

"_Hm? Uh...Asriel? It still-_"

"_Ha! This time I got YOU! I left the cap on...ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for nooo reason! Hee hee hee..._"

Chara sighed despondently.

"_...What?_"

"_Azzy...I've been thinking about something. You remember that little...cooking mix-up we had about a month ago, right?_"

"_Oh, yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for cups of butter...But we accidentally put in buttercups instead. Yeah... Those flowers got him really sick. I felt so bad...We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did..."_

"_Uh-huh. Laughed it off...like it was nothing._"

"_Um, anyway, where are you going with this?_"

"_You mind turnin' that thing off?_"

"_Huh? Turn off the camera...? Okay._"

The tape ended there. Ginger found the sudden mood shift of the first human to be a bit...unsettling. Where was she going with the buttercups? Now just as curious as ever, she took cassette 3 out and put in number 4. It started off with Chara talking to her adoptive brother. They both sounded about the same in each of the cassettes so far; not much time must have passed in between each one.

"_...And everyone will be happy, and YOU'LL be a hero. It's foolproof, Az'._"

"_I...I don't like this idea, Chara._"

"_Oh, no...You're not gonna cry again, are you?_"

"_Wh...What?_"

"_Come on, Asriel; is there anything you WOULDN'T cry over?_"

"_N-no, I'm not...big kids don't cry._"

"_You cried over Dad's basil plant wilting two weeks ago, Az'. You gotta toughen up, pull yourself together, you know?_"

"_Yeah...You're right._"

"_Come on. You don't honestly think I'd ever try to hurt you, right?_"

"_No! I'd never doubt you, Chara, never!_"

"_So, you're in with me on this?_"

"_Y...yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everybody!_"

"_Great. Then...You know what we'll need in order to do this, right?_"

"_...I'll go get the flowers._"

Something one of the voices said during her first trek through New Home came back to her.

"_Then, one day...the human became very ill._"

Now she knew the reason behind it. It wasn't just some unexpected ailment...Chara had poisoned herself, likely having had the intention of giving Asriel her SOUL from the beginning so he could cross the Barrier and...free everyone.

She put the last tape into the player. Toriel's voice came first, and it sounded choked up.

"_...Chara...Can you hear me...? We want you to wake up..._"

"_You have to stay determined...!_" Asgore demanded, but his order came out as more of a plea, begging for the dying human to stay with them. "_You can't give up...! You are the future of humans and monsters..._"

"_...Psst...Chara...Please...Wake up...I don't like this plan anymore__._" Asriel whispered, also on the very verge of weeping. "_I...I...No. I said...I said I'd never doubt you...Six, right? We just have to get six...And we'll do it together, right?_"

The tape ended. That was all there was. And she knew what the result of their journey to the surface had been.

_...Horrible,_ she said to herself, shaking her head in sympathy for the broken family...

If Toriel decided to meet her in New Home as she requested, she might be able to do...something about it. Even without Asriel, she might at least be able to remind them of what once was, and sort out some reason among the two estranged monarchs.

She noted, just before she left, that the slot for the yellow key was on the opposite side of the wall from Entry Number 4, and she stuck the key in there. Two down, only two left to go. And she already had the green key; now all she needed to find was the corresponding slot and a blue key to match the blue code on the door to the Power Room.

There was another note on the ground from Alphys, too, referring to where the yellow key had been.

"_There's one under the  
sheets...I left it there  
after I got back up to  
continue maintenance._"

Well, she'd already found that one, and now it was in its proper place. Now that all of that was sorted out, Ginger headed back out of the television room and back along the path going by the giant deer skull, or whatever it was supposed to be. The monitor on the other side of the structure answered this question, though.

**DT EXTRACTION MACHINE**

**STATUS: INACTIVE**

So THIS was what Alphys had used to get the DETERMINATION out of the human SOULs? She didn't know why it had to look so...skeletal, but whatever.

The next room was shrouded in clouded dust and fog; she couldn't see a thing in there. So, for the time being, she turned tail, and went back to the fork in the path that'd lead her this way, now taking the right hall to a new section of the lab. The wall ahead was covered in fans...Fans that could blow away any dust or fog that obscured her vision. The mist in here wasn't as thick as it was in the last room, so she could see a monitor on the wall before the fans.

***ENTRY NUMBER 11**

**Now that Mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me  
anymore...except to ask when I'm going to finish his body.  
But I'm afraid if I finish his body, he won't need me  
anymore...Then we'll never be friends ever again...Not to  
mention, every time I try to work on it, I just get really  
sweaty...  
**

_That Mettaton...At least the last time we met, he finally started to turn that around._

She approached the end of the hallway. There was a switch on the wall there, presumably to turn the fans on, and she flipped it without hesitation.

"Ha ha!"

Ginger beamed. It was the switch that turned on the fans! And the fans blew that cool breeze loudly and proudly...

...Perhaps a bit TOO loudly.

A deep, almost growlish sound came from above, and something crawled down the walls and onto the floor, just a mere ten yards away from the human. She was looking up at a giant, hulking beast with a long, white coat, and a single, round hole in its head served as its face. It had...six legs? And she could have sworn she saw the silhouettes of other creatures within the shadows its giant body formed. The monster's poofy tail started wagging, and the orifice it had for a face started dripping...something.

Was this a...dog?

The monster seemed to sniff...

And then the orifice started pouring out bullets!

The human tried to evade the sudden close combat, but a good number of the backward-facing arrows ended up hitting their target. She was too close to the source to dodge them properly, and the seemingly unfair circumstances ended up irking her.

"Bad dog!" she scolded, hoping it might do something. "Don't...Don't do that..."

The creature let out a strange noise...It almost sounded like a garbled whine.

"Erm...sit?"

It pointed ears perked, and its back set of legs bent...She guessed it knew what she meant?

"Uh..."

She remembered that Lesser Dog knew how to fetch...Why not try it here?

Ginger pulled out her dagger from her pack, and the creature cocked its huge head, intrigued.

"See, uh..." she faltered, still somewhat disturbed by this...thing. "See the knife?"

It began to emit a bubbly grey froth from its orifice, keeping its direction glued onto the weapon.

"I don't have a stick, so...Be careful grabbing it, alright?"

It nodded its head.

"Okay, then...Go get it!"

She slid the knife across the tile floor, and it went right underneath the monster, passing in between its legs. The dog monster turned around to retrieve it, bowing its head down and closing its orifice around the handle of the dagger before going back and dropping it before the Huntress. It tilted its faceless head again, seeking praise.

"Erm...Good, I guess..."

She hesitantly reached out towards the dog's head. The closer her hand got, the faster its tail wagged. Finally, the two made contact. The white fur was thick and downy, and the skin underneath it was a might...soft and squishy. Like a slug, almost. The creature emitted a happy-sounding noise, almost like a distorted yip, and...

The faces of other dog monsters making up this creature appeared within the black portions between the creature's legs. They all smiled, completely content.

The creature folded its legs and let Ginger scratch the fur around its orifice.

"Ha...Hey. You ain't so bad after all."

It barked in agreement, then...let something black and amorphous come out of the hole and run up along the side of her face.

...Was that supposed to be its tongue?

_Ugh...Dog kisses..._

Finally, the monster, endogenous of all things canine, climbed back up the walls and up onto the top of the row of fans...She was alone again.

Seeing that the fans were all on now, Ginger decided to go back to the room that'd been shrouded in mist to see if this had fixed the issue at all. Sure, it turned on the fans in here, but who was to say there wasn't a different switch controlling the ones in the other room? Well...There WAS only one way to find out, so she retraced her steps past the television room, past the DETERMINATION EXTRACTOR and back into the room that'd been obscured by the clouds of dust and fog. To her pleasent surprise, the switch in the other room had also activated the ones in here, and everything had cleared up. It was revealed that the room held a row of...

Refrigerators, just like Lemon Bread had spoken of. According to the monster, this had been the last place Alphys had been seen by anyone. The human wondered if she'd get lucky and find her in here somewhere...But if not, then she might as well keep at what she was doing.

There were monitors on the walls in some of the spaces between the fridges, and Ginger kept reading them. She noted, as she went, that this room seemed oddly chilly, even considering all of the fans circulating and cooling the air above...Just the breeze made by them shouldn't be that cold.

***ENTRY NUMBER 19**

**The families keep calling me to ask when everyone is coming  
home. What am I supposed to say? I don't even answer the  
phone anymore.**

Out of sheer suspicion, she checked the fridges as she went along. Some were empty, and others looked like they contained samples of some sort. But she didn't want to take anymore chances; she swore that she saw one of them move, just a bit.

***ENTRY NUMBER 20**

**Asgore left me five messages today. Four about everyone  
being angry...One about this cute teacup he found that looks  
like me...Thanks, Asgore.**

...She was still kind of wary, but when she looked inside the fridge that looked like it'd moved, it proved to be empty, just like most of the others, so she decided to just leave them be, passing the others by as she approached the entrance into the next room.

***ENTRY NUMBER 21**

**I spend all my time at the garbage dump now. It's my element.**

Besides, odds were that Alphys wouldn't appreciate her snooping around any more of her-

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of a fridge door opening. It was the last fridge in the row, right next to the doorway. She had her back turned towards it now, but she knew it was opening, and not just that...

It sounded like something was coming out from inside of it.

A freezing gust of air spread throughout the room, and in an instant, the atmosphere turned from just chilly to icy.

...Everything was so cold.

"Gosh darn it all," she muttered to herself as she turned to face whatever stood behind her. "And to think I was in the-"

"S...Snowy...?"

"...Clear."

Her eyes widened. She was face-to-face with what looked to be a Snowdrake; its left-hand side dripped with its own melting feathers, so much so that it looked about to melt right off of it, and two droopy-faced Vegetoids were stuck to its face where its eyes should have been.

The eyes of the Vegetoids seemed to peer at her, not sure what they were seeing.

"...Hu...human..." the bird monster acknowledged. Her voice was distinctly female, but slow and labored. She tried to fire up one of the spinning crescents reminiscent of her battle with the one back in Snowdin, but it careened off to the right; her vision was so out-of-wack from the sentient carrots she had for eyes that she couldn't aim right. The Huntress barely even seemed to notice. She was...haunted by this image. And more than anything, more than fear or disgust, she just felt...pity for this monster.

"I can't..." she huffed, her face seeming to shift in disappointment with herself. "I can't...even fight...anymore..."

"Miss...?"

She carefully approached the melting monster, and she shrank back, her good right wing folding over herself in self defense.

"N...no...Please don't..."

"I'm not going to hurt you...It...looks like you've been through enough already, anyway."

"Why..." she asked, slowly rising back up again as best she could. "What...are you doing...down here...?"

"...I assume you know Dr. Alphys?"

"Al...Alphys..." the bird echoed. "Yes, I...do. She...was in...in here...for...a while..."

"What was she doing?" Ginger asked.

"Don't...don't know...was just...sitting...in...the corner...very upset...about something...When...when she...got up...to leave, she...she didn't...look well...pale...shaking..."

One of the Vegetoids on her face looked like it was trying to say something itself.

"Doctor needs to eat more greens..." it drawled, its speech even more slurred than the Snowdrake's.

"I...tried to ask...what was wrong...but...she just...left...in tears..."

"Well..." she hesitated, but the temptation to crack a joke, just like the one in Snowdin Forest had, was too strong to resist. "...That was ICE of you to at least try. Heheh..."

Instead of a laugh, or even an unamused roll of the Vegetoid eyes, her expression began to shift into something else...surprise.

"I...remem...ber...You...Where...where did...you...hear that...?"

"There's...uh...this other Snowdrake that hangs around Snowdin most of the time crackin' ice puns. You know him?"

"S...now...y..."

She smiled, and a hint of recollection flashed in her...eyes.

That was when Ginger remembered something, told to her by the comedian she'd met at the MTT Resort...Snowdrake's father.

"_It hasn't even been a year since she, uh...passed on. After we lost her, Snowy couldn't stand livin' at home anymore..._"

_...Wait just a pellet-pickin' minute._

"Are you...Are you Snowdrake's mother...?" she gasped.

The monster nodded in response.

"Snowy...He's...he's alright...right?"

"He's fine. It's just...I didn't think you'd...I thought you were-"

"Alph...ys...She...brought me back...I got...another...chance to..."

She emitted a breathy laugh, but despite her having lightened up, Ginger was mortified. How would Snowdrake react to this? And what did it even FEEL like, having an entire half of ones body in a near liquid state all of the time, and having other living entities stuck to the face for the rest of one's life?!

"...I'm so sorry this happened."

"It's...not as...bad...as you...might think," she assured. "Besides...I'm still...still here...Ha...ah...My son...He told...told you his...ice puns?"

"...Yeah. He did. And...I think they were really COOL."

"Haha...Ha...Th...thank you...I...I'm just...glad...he's alright...I...I should...go now...you...have...places...to be..."

"I'm glad I could help."

"Ha...I...think it's...silly that...I wander...into...the fridge...sometimes...thinking...I'm in...Snowdin..." she teased herself as she shambled away. "...don't you?"

Ginger was about to answer 'no,' but Snowdrake's mother was already out of earshot. That whole event was...definitely sad, to say the least.

...But something on the floor did catch her attention.

Ah-HA! It was the last key, the blue one! She grabbed it up off the floor, then ventured into the north room she'd aimed for earlier. There was a slot that looked as though to correspond with the green key, and she stuck it where it belonged. It fit in there perfectly, and with that done, Ginger could read the note Alphys left on the ground for her.

"_Endogeny ran off with  
the green key. I'd check  
the shower curtain; they  
like to trick me by hiding  
stuff...they're good dogs._"

"Alphys, Alphys, how did this all happen?"

It...it didn't have anything to do with the DETERMINATION she gave them, did it? Yes, all of these monsters had been down and at death's door at one point, revived by the DETERMINATION Alphys had gotten from the human SOULs, and while the DETERMINATION explained that part, it didn't explain all of these melting..._Amalgamates_ inhabiting the lab, or how it got to that point. There were still a few pieces of the puzzle missing...Only when she found the Royal Scientist and asked her all of this herself would she be able to complete the picture.

There was only one key slot left in the lab, and she tracked back down the hall, past the dormitory and down the path with all of the mirrors along the wall where she'd first encountered Reaper Bird. It wasn't there to greet her, now; all that stood before her was an empty path and the final room. When she turned up into it, there she spied the fourth and final key slot on the wall, along with the note Dr. Alphys had left on the ground for her. The handwriting on this paper was even harder to decipher than the others, but she could still just barely make it all out.

"_It's so cold...I need to  
get some rest; I haven't  
slept right in days, and  
getting too cold makes  
me feel ill..._"

What order had these notes been written in? Alphys had apparently already left the dormitory, as evidenced by where she'd found the yellow key. In fact, where had she been this whole time? She'd been wandering around the True Lab sometime before her, as evidenced by both the notes on the ground and the information she'd gotten from some of the Amalgamates, but Ginger thought that if they were both in here at once, they would have crossed paths at some point...But they hadn't.

Maybe Alphys was waiting around the Power Room for her again. And now that all of the keys to there had been positioned accordingly, she could go see for herself.

The Huntress made her way through the dimly lit halls, past the flowers, through the bedroom again, and back into the room she'd started out in...

And she found that she wasn't the only one who'd decided to come here.

Reaper Bird, Lemon Bread, Endogeny and Mrs. Snowdrake were all gathered outside the now open entrance to the Power Room. Endogeny was pawing at the wall beside the doorway, seemingly nervous about something.

"What's going on?"

"...smells...doctor...woof...wrong..." Reaper Bird chattered.

The collection of dog monsters tried to turn and enter the room, but Lemon Bread blocked them with an arm.

"Not yet...We don't know what's going on," her multiple voices all said simultaneously. "Human, we were waiting for you to return. We feel like you should go in first. Scope things out for us, maybe."

"Endogeny. Is Alphys in there?" she asked them. The faceless head of the giant dog monster nodded in understanding, then continued to whine.

"Do you...suppose...something's...wrong...?" Mrs. Snowdrake wondered aloud, the Vegetoids she had for eyes emitting a series of drawled out '_uh-oh_'s. "...She did look par... particul...ticular...ly up...upset...today..."

"I'll go in and see if I find anything," the human told them. "She wrote to me about the possibility of her...not coming back. I'm going in there to see if I find her."

"Hope she's alright," Lemon Bread commented.

"If...If I find out that something happened to her," she said to the Amalgamates before going in. "...Rest assured that I'll get you all back home, alright?"

"...S...Snowy?"

"You'll see him again," Ginger promised.

"Good luck," the Whimsalot composing part of Reaper Bird bid her.

She nodded, then went in past the four of them, eyes scanning around for anything concerning. She found that the Power Room lead to another elevator shaft before turning a corner to the left. She went down that way, her gait swift and her vision all over the place. There were monitors along the wall, but it looked like they'd been deactivated, as they didn't flash any text on them. But she could have cared less.

"Alphys?" she rasped. "You in here? Alphys?"

...

***But nobody came.**

Now she was getting scared. She knew how insecure and depressed Alphys was, and her absence made her fear the worst.

"I swear to Glaux, Lupus, Hordox and frickin' _Asgore_, if I find a pile of dust in here instead of a dinosaur..."

She trailed off; she didn't want to believe it...But at the same time, she braced herself when she turned the corner up north, afraid of what she might see.

Up ahead, on the opposite end of the dark room, were the power controls. She slowly entered, still looking around for anything that might prove helpful in her...

She had just reached the dead center of the room when she spied what looked like a dark silhouette hunkered down in the corner, hidden among the shadows, that seemed as though to be shallowly breathing. Was this another Amalgamate? Or was it...

"...Alphys?"

The monster let out a startled, almost gag-like gasp, swiftly turned to face her, then curled further into the corner in fear. A few seconds passed before she actually realized who she was looking up at.

"Oh...H-hi there, Ging'...You decided t-to come, huh?"

It was Alphys...She was okay.

"Couldn't just leave you hangin'," the human told her, expression softening. She heaved out a sigh of relief. "...I was worried for a bit, there."

"Yeah, well, um...H-how'd everything go? In there? W-with everything? While I was..."

She didn't finish, instead curling up tighter and looking away. Ginger broke the silence, sitting down on the floor beside her to match her level.

"...What _happened_ down here? All of those monsters...How'd they end up all...like that?"

The monster winced. It was time to come clean about all of this.

"...Asgore wanted me to study the nature of SOULs," she explained. "I isolated the power of DETERMINATION, and extracted it from the human SOULs he sent me, thinking I could use it to get a monster SOUL to last after the death of the host...I injected it into the bodies of the fallen monsters that were sent to me, t-to see if it would work...but all it did was make them get back up. That was good at the time, but then...j-just a handful of hours after everyone had w-woken back up, they...they all..."

She hid her face in her folded knees and arms and placed a hand on her head.

"Keep goin', Al'."

"...They all started to m-melt. I found this out the hard way; unlike humans', monsters' bodies aren't composed of enough...ph-physical matter needed to take on such high doses of DETERMINATION. Their bodies started to melt. They lost what physicality they had, and soon enough, all of the t-test subjects were m-melted together into-"

"...Amalgamates."

"I'd already told the families I would s-send them all home. I couldn't tell them about this, I couldn't tell ANYONE about it, it was so horrible," she sobbed. "I was too afraid to do anymore work on it knowing e-everything had turned into such a horrific failure, a-a-and I tried to fix them, b-but they're too conjoined w-with e-each other and they'll all b-be s-stuck like that a-s l-long as they live, a-and...and...I couldn't take it anymore. S-seeing them suffer like that, a-and having their families asking m-me when they were coming back, I-I just got worse and worse. Wh-when I got home, I found that someone left me a note. Someone knows about it. I had to let someone know about everything I did if I didn't come back, and I didn't know if I was going to be coming back..."

She grimaced at the thought.

"It-it's not because of them...th-the Amalgamates," she admitted. "I'm s-so s-sorry. I-I couldn't handle knowing that p-people were going t-to find out, s-so...I was afraid I-I might decide t-to...r-run away and n-never come back, o-or...or d-do something...c-cowardly..."

"That's...part of why you were at the dump that day, isn't it?"

"...Yes," she answered, her voice somewhere between a squeak and a wheeze. "Th-this is all my f-fault. I...Oh, I'm a _horrible_ person!"

That did it; the small shred of dignity that the Royal Scientist had left crumbled, and she burst into a plaintive wail. The young Huntress held back her own tears; it was heart-wrenching, what she'd gone through, and what it made her think of herself.

"Oh, Alphys…"

She drew her into her lap and held her there, letting Alphys cry her heart out onto her. To think, she had sympathy for the Amalgamates having been reduced to such a state, but having to live life knowing she was the one responsible for such a horrible accident?

"You're not a bad person..." Ginger rasped. "You're good, okay? You didn't know this was gonna happen, you were trying to help..."

She hugged her tighter, now spilling her own tears.

"O-oh no..." Alphys realized, still in hysterics. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't m-mean to make you cry..."

They both sat in the Power Room, each trying to console the other, continuously wiping the tears from their faces. The human managed to pull herself back together in time, but Alphys still seemed inconsolable. Just her reassurance wasn't enough.

A gurgle of a whine came from behind the two of them. Ginger looked up to face its source while Alphys dried her glasses on her coat. Endogeny hovered above them, not far away, and the pointed ears atop the large head drooped with worry. When they saw the human nod at them, they drew closer, gently nudging the side of the other monster's face with their own. Finally, she managed a smile.

"Th...thanks, Endogeny..." she hiccupped.

"...not...fault...helping..."

"I doubt any of us could have foreseen this."

"Doctor...You'll...be al...alright..."

The other three Amalgamates had gathered around them as well, now, Mrs. Snowdrake putting her good wing on the raptor's head.

"Alphys," Ginger said to her, the two of them still locked in an embrace. "I can't begin to imagine what you've been through with all this. It's terrible, and...I understand why you feel so bad, now. But don't think that you're not good enough for us. You're not alone; I'm here for you. We all are. If you...If you were gone, then..."

She held her friend even closer to her, resisting the urge to weep again.

"Al', don't ever think about yourself like that. We don't wanna lose you, we love you so much..."

"I..."

The monster hesitated a moment, her stream of tears finally beginning to slow.

"...I'm really grateful f-for all of you," she sniveled. "Thank you guys...All of you guys, for having my back. I...I really owe it to you all...I really do..."

A flash of realization shone in her brown eyes.

"...And that's what I'm gonna do. I'm...I'm going to tell everyone about what I've done. They need to know. I've kept this all i-in the dark for too long. It...It's going to be a hard thing to do. T-telling the truth...believing in myself...I-I thought of myself a-as such a big screw-up f-for so long...I'm sure there'll be times where I struggle, and where I screw up again...But...Knowing, deep down that I have some of the best friends in the world to fall back on, I...I feel like it's going to be a lot easier t-to finally stand on my own, from now on...Thank you all, s-so much."

"Any time, Alphy."

Alphys dabbed at her eyes with her lab coat, then stood to her feet, the Amalgamates grouping around her.

"...Come on, everyone," she said to them, switching the power on and turning around out of the Power Room. "It's time for everyone to go home."

"...home...finally...ribbit..."

"I've been hoping this day would come."

"_...G-r-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-f-f-f-f !_"

"Home...S...now...y..."

"Wait, Al'."

"Huh?"

She turned to see the human stand up from the floor.

"Just in case things...go south, so to speak, why don't you let me tag along to back you up?"

"Y-you'd do that?"

"Aw, 'course I would," Ginger answered, pulling her into another one-armed hug. "What do you guys think?"

"...sounds...wise...croak..."

"I mean, I doubt she's in any danger...but you can never be too careful."

"Good...good thinking..."

Endogeny nodded and wagged their tail, and Alphys gave the signal for them all to follow. Side-by-side, the Royal Scientist and the Huntress trekked back into the elevator, the Amalgamates in tow. The chamber was a bit crowded with all six of them in there at once, but it was a short ride back to the level floor, and the only mishap was on their way out; Endogeny had gotten some of their frothy grey drool on the floor, and they ended up slipping on it as they exited the elevator. But the conjoined dog monster didn't seem bothered by it the least, and soon, they were all stepping out onto the tile floor of the main part of the Lab.

"I've...never seen...this part...of the Lab...before..." Mrs. Snowdrake marveled, her speech seeming slightly more quick; possibly because of how excited she was. "It's...quite  
...well-lit...Ah...I...might need to...get...get used to...the light..."

She shielded her eyes with her good wing for a few moments as her Vegetoids tried to blink away the strain. Lemon Bread was scanning the walls and going off to examine some of the things on Alphys' desk, and Endogeny was probing the area with their...orifice. Ginger assumed that the hole in their face served as its eyes, mouth and nose all at once. Reaper Bird stood idly, curiously watching as the Royal Scientist pulled her phone out.

"I never thought I'd be the one to call...But...Here I go; I-I'm gonna call up the families and...tell them to c-come see their family members."

She hovered a shaky claw over the screen, still a bit uncertain about things.

"Erm...Uh...H-hey Ging'? Which one d-do you think I should call first?"

"...How 'bout the Snowdrakes?" she suggested. "Besides, I'd like to see Snowy one more time before I head to New Home."

"Ha...W-well...Okay, then."

While Alphys was busy contacting the MTT Resort comedian, the human took the opportunity to dial up the skeleton brothers one more time.

"_YOU'VE REACHED THE GREAT PAPYRUS! MIGHT I ASK WHO IS SPEAKING?_ "

"Hey, Papyrus, it's the human. How's it been?"

"_AH, GREETINGS, HUMAN! STILL NOT IN NEW HOME, IT SEEMS?_"

"There was...something that needed to be taken care of first."

"_Is that stick-arms? Hey, ask her when Alphys is supposed to get here!_" Undyne's voice rang from somewhere in the room.

"Uh...She's on the line with someone else right now. I'll have her call you back when she's done. Papyrus, I hate to cut this short, but could you hand me over to Sans?"

"_CERTAINLY! HE'S RIGHT HERE! JUST GOT BACK FROM THE RUINS._"

"Ah, really now...?"

"_ABSOLUTELY! HERE HE IS NOW...! WHY YES, SANS, IT **IS** IMPORTANT...JUST TAKE THE PHONE, YOU LAZY NINCOMPOOP! FORGIVE MY LANGUAGE, BUT **REALLY!**_"

"_yeah, yeah, alright. 'sup?_"

"Sans?"

"_oh, hey kid. what's cookin'?_"

"You know Snowdrake, right? Figured he was your type o' guy."

"_oh, yeah, I know 'em. child prodigy. what about 'em?_"

"Sorry if I'm bothering you, but it's kind of important. I need you to find him and tell him to take the river up to Hotland A.S.A.P."

"_shouldn't be hard. on it._"

"And while you're at it, tell the Canine Unit the same thing!"

"_sure, why not? okay...gotta go. see ya._"

With a click, he was gone.

"Alphys, I think the Canine Unit is taken care of, now, okay?"

"Uh...You called the Canine Unit?"

"Well...Not exactly. But if Mr. Lazybones does his job, I'd say they should be here soon."

"Oh. Sans. W-well, uh...Thanks for doin' that part for me."

"So...Now what do we do? Wait?"

"Pretty much. Oh, and, uh, Undyne's wondering where you're at. Told her I'd have you call her up when you were done with the families."

That gave Alphys something else to do while they waited. Ginger donned her signature cloak, pulling the frayed, shadowy hood over her head and leaning against the wall in a cool and mysterious manner; nobody would have guessed that she was an emotional mess just minutes earlier.

Besides, the Snowdrakes would be here soon, as well as many other monsters, As a pseudo-celebrity, she thought it wise to at least keep up appearances.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...How's the boy?"

"Not well," Nyra said to her mate. "He's just...completely shut down ever since he got wind of the news."

"He lost her once," Metal Beak acknowledged. "I doubt he thought he would lose her again so soon."

All four of Ginger's underlings had been upset by the news of her disappearance into Mount Ebott, but Kludd especially had taken a devastating blow. It was very unsettling, seeing the strongest, toughest and brashest of the trainee squadron so despondent. He and Ginger were remarkably close; everyone, including them themselves, sometimes wondered if what the future might hold for the two of them...But if the rumors were true, and if Ginger couldn't find a way to escape her prison and reverse her curse before they had to depart back to the Kingdoms, they would have no choice but to bid General Ginger goodbye.

"...And Uklah?"

The Ablah General shook her head; she wasn't much better off than Kludd. Ginger was like a sister to her, and she'd already lost one in days gone by. Having to lose another, even if not necessarily by the hand of death, was a horrible thing to deal with. The last Nyra had seen of them, the two Tyto Albas were trying to console each other, Kludd as quiet and still as a stone as Uklah wept into the crook of his wing.

"Despite how grim this situation is," the High Tyto continued. "I find something very...odd about it. I don't know why, but...it feels as though so much more time has gone by than what really has. Almost as though a span of many moons has passed by, and...We all missed it, somehow. Do you ever get that feeling."

"I never thought of such a thing...until you mentioned it."

"What do you suppose is really going on beneath that mountain? My gizzard gives the occasional prick of warning that something bad has occurred, and other times it sends a dull warmth throughout me, as though I should be relieved about something...More recently, an uneasy pit has formed in there; I believe whatever happened to young Ginger as of late, it wasn't a pleasent experience...But it must be over, now; the pit just dissipated, mere minutes ago."

"Many moons have passed, and we don't even know it," Nyra echoed, her blue and gold eyes gleaming with deep thought. "...What else do you suppose we don't know?"

* * *

**A.N: Phew! Finally done! Sorry this took so long; I'd have had more of this done earlier, but we had company over the Valentine's Day weekend, so I didn't get the chance to finish all this until more recently.**

**Next chapter won't be quite so long, but there's going to be a LOT going on throughout it.**

**Thanks for stickin' around this long; we're nearing the end! Later, peeps! :D**


	37. Chapter 35: Tying Loose Ends

It wasn't long before the first knocks on the door came, one on the back door and one on the front. Ginger approached the front one; seeing where the two Snowdrakes had come from, it wasn't hard to tell which was at which entry. The metal door slid open, and revealed that not only was the young bird monster there, but also the entirety of the Canine Unit; Doggo, Dogamy, Dogaressa, and Lesser and Greater Dog all stood behind him as he entered and greeted the Huntress. And more still, Shyren and Aaron were tucked away among the crowd; the small, tone-deaf fish monster slightly dubious about the sea-horse standing beside her. But even he seemed a bit concerned...for once.

"Dude! It's been, like forever!" Snowdrake exclaimed. "Never thought you'd make it big!"

"I know. It's COOL, isn't it?"

Alphys was dealing with the other crowd; there were three monsters from New Home; an Astigmatism, two Whimsalots and a Final Froggit, and, of course, Mr. Snowdrake.

When the resort comedian heard his son's voice, it was like music to his ears. He entered the Lab, and found him and the human exchanging terrible puns.

"ICY that you enjoyed what I left under the tree for you."

"Sorry if it looks a little...WEATHERED. But it has yet to FLAKE away into nothing."

Such wonderfully terrible puns. Snowdrake was in such high spirits that didn't even notice his father until he addressed him.

"...Snowy?"

He looked away from his human friend, only to behold his father standing there. The wide grin fell from his beak, and he looked away, a bit of shame flashing in his eyes.

"You know somethin', son? Ha...Those puns...They ain't so bad after all, ya know? While you were gone, I...I kept seein' this guy on stage between my shows. The only thing he told were puns. And, I realized...I shouldn't have put ya down. Your jokes...They're good, alright? They really are. And...Heheh...It's ICE to know you've been hangin' in theah this whole time. I guess ya could say I'm...I'm proud, Snowy."

Snowdrake had turned his back to him, head hung. His father slowly approached.

"Come on, junior. You...you forgive me, don'tcha?"

"Snowdrake?" Ginger asked.

It was then that the young bird monster drew in a convulsing gasp, and his father wrapped his wings around him.

"It's alright, son. I'm with ya...I'm with ya..."

"Erm...Mr. S-snowdrake, sir?" Alphys piped up from behind them.

"Doctah. I'm guessin' you called us here about..."

"Yeah...About that, uh...Th-there's something I need to tell you. All of you."

All of the monsters gathered around the Royal Scientist, and she explained everything that happened; the initial goal of the project, the DETERMINATION, how it reawakened their fallen family members...and then broke them down into near goop soon afterwards.

"I...I just want to apologize for what you're all about to see," she finished, eyes moist. "What I've done i-is horrible, and...It's even worse that I kept it from all of you f-for so long. And...I'm sorry for that."

Silence reigned. The monsters knew that for her to put it that way, it must be a serious matter.

"...Guys?" she called out, seeing that they'd all gathered upstairs. "Everyone's here to see you."

Everyone watched as the first monster descended, its long legs striding down the escalator. It stopped and looked in the direction of the four monsters from New Home, then said something to them in their mixed-up, unsynchronized and differentiating speech.

"...'bout time...determined...robbit robbit..."

The Astigmatism smiled as Reaper Bird lowered its head.

"...Brothers...!"

He greeted the two fused monsters warmly, and the two Whimsalot fluttered near.

"Comrade? Are you in there?" one of them asked.

"...Still alive!" a somewhat slow and muffled voice called from Final Froggit approached, now, and Reaper Bird bent its long legs to meet it. The frog monster saw its friend in the entity, and pressed its short, blunt snout against it contently.

"Well...That...uh...W-went well," Alphys remarked.

"What am I? Chopped liver?"

Lemon Bread was the one who said it; she got off the escalator to meet her sister; Shyren was too excited to say anything; she just flitted over to her, salty tears streaming down her face and wearing an ecstatic smile. Aaron approached curiously, but then flashed a toothy grin.

"So, tell me, cousin...Can you still flex?"

He tensed his muscles and struck a pose, Lemon Bread's arm doing the same. She rolled her eyes, then addressed her sister.

"...Chowderhead."

Shyren nodded, stifling a giggle.

"I don't see anything..." Doggo mumbled. "My brother must be standing pretty still."

"Oh, the members of the Canine Unit are...uh...coming," Alphys promised, looking up at the top floor; Endogeny sniffed the air, then made a mad dash down the escalator, running like the wind, and their claws scraping against the tile floor as they came down to meet their family members. Finally, they stopped right in front of the crowd of dog monsters, their front part hunched down and tail stuck in the air, wagging wildly.

Dogamy and Dogaressa exchanged glances, then looked back at the compiled heap of fused dog monsters. And then, they beamed.

"Mom!"

"Dad!"

Doggo was the next to approach.

"Brother? Izzat you in there?"

Lesser Dog and Greater Dog approached Endogeny, smiling and panting; they didn't seem aware of what was actually going on, but they seemed pleased nonetheless. All of the dogs gathered together greeting each other, finally seeing one another after so long, and a long series of happy barks and yips filled the Lab.

Mr. Snowdrake and his son watched along with the Huntress and Royal Scientist. The resort comedian had an uncertain expression on his feathered face.

"So...Mr. Snowdrake, a-and Jr. Are you two, ah...ready?"

They both nodded, and Alphys called for Mrs. Snowdrake to come down. Snowy whispered to his human friend.

"So...Is it, uh...bad?"

"It could definitely be way worse," she answered. "You can still tell she's a Snowdrake, at least."

"Is she...theah? Up here, I mean?" his father chimed in, putting a wing on his head in insinuation.

"I...think? A little slow, but she gets her point across."

"O-okay, you two. Here, uh...Here she is."

She lead Mrs. Snowdrake down the escalator towards them, and the Vegetoids on her face squinted a little as she eyed her loved ones.

"...Mom?"

"Hon'?"

"S...now...y...?"

She shambled closer to them, her good wing stretched forward a bit. But her son was the one to close the gap between them.

"Mom! It's you! It's actually you, you're here!"

He pulled her into an embrace, and she put her wing around him.

"Ha...I...missed...you too..."

Mr. Snowdrake approached her, and she and her son turned to face him. There was an odd mix of emotions in his eyes; a bit of uncertainty, some sadness, some sympathy, and a lot of confused happiness. She brought her wing up to his face, then, without warning, pulled him in to join her and their son.

And to this, he finally smiled.

"Doc..." he continued. "I'll be honest; part of me still wishes I knew about this earliah but...I can undahstand why you didn't tell us befoah. You prob'ly had no idea what was gonna happen, so...I can see why it'd be so upsetting. And...I'm just glad she's back, really. Both of us ah."

"I'm glad you're back, Mom," Snowdrake said to her, a mischievous grin slowly inching its way across his beak. "You don't know how much I missed you."

"...How much...?"

"Ha...I missed you SNOW much!"

Mr. Snowdrake, much to his son's surprise, burst out laughing.

"Haha...Good one..." his mother chortled.

"So...Can we take 'em back home with us?" Dogamy asked.

"Oh. Ah, yes. Yes, you can all take them back home," Alphys confirmed to the families. "...My work here is done."

"We best be gettin' back to Snowdin, then," Doggo alerted the rest of the Canine Unit before turning to the Snowdrake family. "You birds comin'?"

"Sure thing, dogs," Snowy accepted. "We'd rather not go back there OWL by ourselves."

His father gave him a curious look, which he took notice of.

"What? You know we're birds, too," he explained. "I gotta shake things up sometimes! If I just stick to ice puns and not go for any bird jokes, it'll drive everyone..."

"Uh-oh..."

"STORK RAVEN mad!"

Both of his parents squawked out good, hearty, genuine laughter. He never thought he'd see the day his father, of all people, laughed at his jokes. But now, he was seeing it.

_I must be getting better at this..._ he surmised.

The families of the Amalgamates bid their farewells, and then gave Dr. Alphys their thanks for finally coming clean and bringing them back, and it wasn't long until everyone had left the lab. Only she and the human remained.

"...Well, that went well," Ginger remarked.

"Heh...Better than I anticipated, really...A-a lot better. Heh...Th-thanks for bein' here during all that; I think your input really helped calm things down."

"You got ahold of Undyne before they showed up, right? What'd she say?"

"I, uh...told her I m-might not end up showing up until midnight. I actually thought this might take, like, a-a few hours to get done. I-I thought they were gonna ask a bunch of q-questions, o-or get angry, and I thought...well...you get the idea, right?"

"I do...And I wasn't planning on showing up at Asgore's place until around midnight, myself," Ginger stated further. "I guess we've got some time to kill."

"G-guess so..."

The human suddenly snapped her fingers.

"I got an idea."

"Wh-what's your idea?"

"Remember back when I was doing the puzzles in Hotland, and you were telling me about one of those anime you watch?"

"Oh. OHHHH, I see what you're getting at!" the monster exclaimed, an excited smile now on her face.

"I specifically remember you offering to show some o' that to me. Don't know when I'll next get the chance, so maybe we could do that now."

"Sounds like a plan! Uh, I-I have one of my DVD player and some of the discs back on the lower floor. Y-you wanna head back down there?"

"Heck, yeah! Let's watch some..."

She trailed off, and an unsettlingly large grin spread across the human's face.

"Erm...What's on your mind?"

"I just had ANOTHER idea for something we could watch. After we watch that anime."

"What's that?"

She slid her messenger bag off and began to rummage through its contents.

"I found this movie in the dump, actually right after you and I first met. I was looking for more stuff to make my arrows and junk out of," she explained. Ginger's hands finally got ahold of the DVD case she'd kept in there.

"And lo and behold, THIS beauty makes itself plain. I watched it with Papyrus, and he showed it to Undyne, and we both LOVED. IT."

She showed off the case, and Alphys scanned it over curiously; the partial Spinosaurus skeleton on the cover gave her a good enough clue as to what it might be about.

"...'_Jurassic Park III,_' huh...?" she mused. "...You know what? Sure! I-I'll give it a go!"

"Alright, then! Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Snowdin Town...This place has not changed so much, it seems."

Toriel trekked through the snowy town, Joss curled into her warm paws. She was glad that the town seemed the same as it'd always been; the path through the forest hadn't been quite as she remembered it, sporting more, and different puzzles. Judging by the handwriting on some of the signs(and on a cardboard sentry station she chortled at) it looked like the same person was in charge of most of them. She recognized the name on the sign by the spaghetti plate; "Papyrus." The young man that she exchanged jokes with said he was his younger brother. He'd stated many a time that he was passionate about capturing humans...up until now, where he claimed that he had instead become friends with the one she was now on her way to meet.

_I suppose that is a good thing..._

The Boss Monster passed by the Gyftmas tree, being careful not to make eye contact with any of the monsters that sat around it; she knew that there would likely still be a number of people that would recognize her, and she did not want to draw attention to herself.

But someone, making an armless snow angel along the side of the path, noticed her as she went by. And the first thing he saw was just how worried she looked.

"Hey, uh...ma'am?" he addressed? "You okay?"

She jumped a bit, startled, then turned to face whoever had spoken. She found herself looking down at a small, armless lizard monster, who looked like he was no older than maybe eight or nine. She remembered bitterly that her two children had been the same age when they perished.

"...I am quite alright," she responded, almost curtly, and tried to pass him by. "I just have a lot on my mind, is all."

"Huh...You know somethin'? This kinds reminds me of when I met a friend of mine, 'bout a week ago. She was standin' around, lookin' glum, so I went ahead and cheered her up! Spread the word that there was a newcomer, and someone put a present under the tree for her! Haha!"

_A week ago...That couldn't have been..._

"Ah...What is your name, child?"

"Name's Kidd. I know; lame name, right?"

"No, no, it is not, I promise," she told him. "Erm...So, your friend. What was she like?"

"Oh, she's real famous, now! You've heard of the Huntress, right?"

"The Huntress?" she echoed.

"No?" Kidd asked, tilting his head curiously.

"I...I cannot say I have."

"Well, I'll explain it to you; she's a human that showed up one day, and she's been through thick and thin trying to get to the king's castle! She's super smart and strong, but she's also really nice, even though she doesn't like it when people point it out. She's _crazy _awesome!"

All he had to say was that she was human, and Toriel instantly knew who the Huntress was.

"...Might I ask, Kidd?" she said to him. "Why does everybody call her 'the Huntress'?"

"Mainly 'cuz of how she looks and fights. She has this bow and arrows she made from stuff at the garbage dump, and she's got this set of armor, and a cloak she got from a guy here in Snowdin who put it under the Gyftmas tree for her and this cool messenger bag, and she's really-"

"That will do, child," she interrupted, starting to walk again. "Thank you, though. I needed to know quite a bit of that."

She left him with that, but unbeknownst to her, Kidd decided to trail behind the mysterious monster, curious as to where she might be going? It was odd; she looked a lot like King Asgore, for some reason, with the white fur and floppy ears, and...her purple robes. He'd heard that there used to be a queen of the Underground, but she'd disappeared sometime before he was born. This couldn't be her, though, could it? What made her decide to come back? It was a mystery to him...But that mystery only made him more curious, and that further prompted him to follow the monster, wondering exactly where she might be going, and who exactly she was.

Toriel didn't know it, but as she went, the number of monsters following her on the sly grew greater and greater.

* * *

_..._

* * *

_"What do you mean, 'she's not there'?"_

_"She's gone. And Asriel isn't in there, either."_

_"Hmm..."_

_Toriel hummed thoughtfully; it wasn't like them to suddenly disappear, and especially Chara, seeing how weak she was._

_"...How about we check the garden?" she suggested. "He might have brought her there to look at the flowers. I know she said she wanted to see the ones from her village, so...maybe he wanted to give her the next best thing."_

_"It's a shame we don't have any actual Golden Flowers down here. The buttercups are the closest we have...But you're right," he nodded. "Let's __go see to that."_

_They headed down that way, making their way down the brightly lit, gold hall. Normally, Toriel would have smiled at the beauty of it, but she couldn't help but get a feeling of unprecedented dread. Something was amiss, and the sooner she figured out what it was, the better._

_They turned the corner and approached the Throne Room. Her husband entered first, scanning around for the children, but they were nowhere to be seen until..._

_The figure walked in through the northern exit. The tall, slim figure of a Boss Monster, but with unnatural black sclera and stripes on either side of his face, expression weak, but also contorted with pain. There was a trail of blood behind him, and he was carrying the limp body of a human in his battered arms, one of which looked about ready to fall clean out of the socket._

_Asgore froze at the sight of it, then let out a loud gasp as his paws rose to his mouth. This...It was...He'd..._

_"...Asriel?"_

_Toriel heard the sound of distress, her motherly instincts kicked into full overdrive. And the sight she saw made her freeze as still as a stone._

_Asriel stumbled closer to the enormous flowerbed. Slashes and puncture wounds plagued his entire form, and several arrows were stuck in his back._

_"M...Mom...Dad..." he croaked, a tear beginning to stream down his face._

_"...Help..."_

_His eyes rolled back, then he fell forward, and Chara's dead body fell from his grasp as his arms disintegrated into white dust, and the moment he hit the ground, the rest of him followed suit._

_The king and queen watched on, wide-eyed, in sick denial of what had just played out before them._

_"...No," Asgore finally whispered, falling to his knees at where the dust of his son now lay. Toriel followed moments after, her paws sifting through the white powder, still not believing what she'd seen until she touched his remains._

_They looked at each other, the look in their eyes full conveying what they had both finally concluded._

_Asriel and Chara were..._

_Dead._

_That was when they finally broke, and the loud, anguished wails rang out across all of New Home for all to hear._

_They didn't see it, but Asriel had dropped something else as he disappeared; a single Golden Flower, pulled up by the roots, that he'd brought back with him; a souvenir of his last adventure._

* * *

_..._

* * *

_Only twenty hours had passed since the tragedy. The monthly address had been cancelled, unbeknownst to the monsters waiting down below for the king to explain exactly what'd happened the previous day. Asgore and Toriel stood just inside the balcony in each other's arms, each trying to console the other. But their attempts were fruitless._

_"I'm sorry, Toriel..." Asgore sobbed. "I should have found and stopped him before he could do it, this is all my fault!"_

_"No, no, Asgore, this is not your fault!" she assured him. "Don't you dare think that! You are not to blame for this! It is not your fault I promise...!"_

_She held him even tighter, and, over the course of the next minute, noticed that he'd stopped weeping. She pulled herself back to look him in the eye; Asgore now had a look of realization on his face, and his breathing had become even._

_"...You're right," he whispered. "...It isn't my fault. And nor is it yours."_

_His voice was hushed and calm, but for reasons unknown, it sent a cold shiver down the queen's spine._

_Several images flashed through Asgore's head. The sight of his fatally wounded son stumbling back into the garden, bloodied and battered beyond help, the arrows that fell to the ground as he dusted...And the distant memory of the human soldier, in the War of Humans and Monsters, swinging his axe, killing both of his parents in one sweep of his weapon. He'd screamed for them, but it was too late. They had taken everything from him that day._

_And now they had done it again._

_"...Excuse me, Toriel," he said to her as he passed her by, going out onto the balcony. "...I have an announcement to make."_

_There was something wrong with him, she knew now. His blue eyes, which usually had a gentle twinkle in them, now flashed like a flame. He wasn't just distraught, now._

_He was angry._

_...Too angry._

_"...My loyal subjects," he said to the vast crowd of monsters that stood below, eyes turned up to meet him. "Forgive me, but I carry ill tidings...Asriel and Chara, the prince of the Underground, and the embodiment of a peaceful future between humans and monsters, were both found dead yesterday afternoon."_

_There was series of gasps from the crowd below. Some denied it, others wept, others simply lowered their heads._

_"...As you all know, Chara had been bedridden with terrible illness for two weeks up until today. Asriel tried to grant her final request: to see the flowers growing in the center of her village. He absorbed her SOUL, and used this power to cross the Barrier into the surface world...only to be brutally attacked, and ultimately killed, by the humans which inhabited it."_

_The gasps from the crowd rang out louder, and now, some of them wore angry faces. There was chatter among them that the humans had gone too far this time._

_"Citizens. We never threatened mankind with our powers. All we wanted was to make peace with them. And, as you all know, the only things we got out of those attempts at peace were injustice, suffering, and a thousand years ago, near-genocide...And now, they have killed my patience. As king, I promise to all monsters of the Underground that the crimes wrought against us for a millennium shall not go unavenged. Mankind may have shattered our hopes for peace, but not for our freedom! I, King Asgore, hereby declare war! Henceforth, any human that dares to face us again, no matter who, no matter how old and no matter what they stand for, will perish! And once the seven SOULs needed to destroy the Barrier have been obtained, I will use their power to transcend to omnipotence, and with that power, I will wreak our final vengeance on mankind once and for all! This world will be OURS to claim! Sharpen your weapons! Harness your magic! Find the will within yourselves to kill! We have been trod upon like worms for too long! This time, there will be NO MERCY!"_

_An uproar of applause came from the crowd below, chanting for the destruction of humanity. Asgore summoned his trident, the magic entity he hadn't wielded since the war, and rose it high into the air. The cheers from the monsters below rang out even louder._

_It felt like a full day had passed, but after only mere minutes, the cheers ceased, and the King of Monsters lowered his trident again, letting it dissipate. He turned around to face his wife, the gleam of hatred still burning hot in his gaze..._

_And then, his eyes widened just a bit, at the expression on her face._

_She was absolutely appalled._

_"...What have you done...?" she rasped hoarsely._

_"Something that should have been done long ago."_

_"...You do not know what you have done!"_

_"On the contrary, Toriel. I know very well what I have done. I have just unlocked the gateway to our freedom. The gate is a long ways off, but in time, we will get there. And when we do, we, you and I, and everyone else, will take back what is justifiably ours. Humanity hasn't changed since the days of the war. And it will pay for the sins it has committed with its very existence."_

_"You cannot possibly be serious!"_

_"It's what SHE would have wanted."_

_That was what made her silent. It was known by every member of the Dreemurr family that Chara hated humanity with a burning passion, but for what reasons, it was never obvious to them._

_...Until now._

_Toriel just shook her head in disgust, and he watched in anger as she left him standing there, alone._

_Asgore's fists clenched at what he was witnessing; his partner in ruling, and his lifelong companion, was leaving him there, by himself._

_"What? You're leaving? They killed our son and you just turn your back on me? For THEM?"_

_She just kept walking away._

_"Don't you forget this, Toriel!" he called out, but she made no indication that she heard him. "I will gather the SOULs alone, without your help and with my own two hands if it comes to be! And if something happens to me, then..."_

_She slammed the door shut._

_"Then it's YOUR FAULT! TRAITOR!"_

_Right when he said it, Asgore landed a fist against the grey stone wall, shaking the entire castle and leaving a good-sized dent in the rock. It made his hand sting badly, but it was nothing compared to the growing turmoil on the inside._

_As it dawned on him that he had just lashed out at the one thing he had left to love, Asgore's legs caved in beneath him, the clenched fist sliding down the wall with the rest of his form until he fell all the way to his knees. And when he did, the once proud and noble King of Monsters wrapped his cloak around himself, collapsed forward onto the stone floor, and wept._

* * *

_..._

* * *

Memories.

Shattered memories.

That was all those things were now; fragmented memories from days gone by. But even as far away those times were, they did not come without consequences.

Asgore stood just inside the Barrier, as still and as silent as a statue. He'd been like that for several hours at this point; there was a lot on his mind, and he thought very hard about it all, especially considering that it had taken him this long to learn any of it. Toriel had been in the Ruins this whole time, trying to protect the humans that fell, only to fail when they finally emerged into the rest of the Underground? Including young Ginger Wingren? She hadn't failed with that one yet; as far as he knew, the human was in Hotland, presumably in the company of Dr. Alphys.

_Alphys..._

In order to have evaded so much danger and gotten to know so many of his citizens and underlings, she had to be fairly slick; she knew his loyal Judge Sans and his younger brother Papyrus, Captain Undyne, Dr. Alphys AND his former queen? The last part had been confirmed with that piece of pie she'd gifted him. And now that he knew she was acquainted with the last one, he was distraught; how attached had Toriel gotten to the humans before Ms. Wingren, let alone her herself? If he'd known that poor Toriel had so much as known their names, he'd have ordered all citizens to never lay a hand on any of them.

And that was when he realized...He let out a shaky breath as it dawned on him.

...He couldn't do it.

Especially considering that UNDYNE had let her go, he was the only one left who could do the job...but he couldn't. Not knowing what he knew now.

...But he HAD to.

The SOULs in their canisters seemed to glow a bit brighter. Communication between them, he always thought that was, whenever they glowed brighter and flashed with more light. If only he knew what they were saying...Maybe he could get to know them all just a bit better.

But it was too late now.

He wasn't sure what would happen when the human returned, whenever that might be. In all honesty, he wished that Ginger would just stay living in the Underground, never returning to the castle where she was supposed to meet her demise. Maybe, she would never show up...But he'd hoped long ago that no other human would fall into the land of monsters, and it had happened too many times already, so he shook woefully.

All he had left was his kingdom, but now knowing just what he'd done, he didn't think killing the human would be any better for them than it had been for Toriel.

His head hung lower; he wanted something, someone, ANYONE to take this cup from him. To put him out if his misery, maybe even offer him some peace.

...

***But nobody came.**

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Okay, I admit; that wasn't one of my brighter ideas," the human remarked, taking the disc out and putting it back in its case now that it was over.

Ginger figured that having dealt with monsters that'd _literally_ melted into goop, Alphys would be able to handle some convincing, human-crafted movie gore...But apparently, she was quite a bit more squeamish than she'd thought, and the realistically nasty imagery, especially throughout the first half of the film when she was the least prepared, was not an easy thing for her to stomach. The T. Rex having its neck brutally snapped in two was bad enough, but when the human corpse fell out of the tree and into plain view, she had swiftly excused herself, and was gone for about a minute...only to come back looking very green in the gills. It was obvious what'd happened.

"H-how can you guys stomach all that up there...!?"

"I've actually seen worse...albeit without the dinosaurs."

"Blugh...S-sorry. I've seen so much other horrible stuff already, I...I thought I could handle it."

"And I'll admit something else; I thought that Mew Mew Kissy Cutie thing was gonna be ultra weird...I was, uh, pleasantly surprised, to say the least. Might watch it again; plot's interesting enough to make me wanna dig deeper."

"Oh...W-well, glad you think so!"

"I, uh...gotta head out, now, though. I saw that the elevators here in the Lab also lead up to New Home, so I'll just take that route. You gonna go see Undyne now?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna meet her in Snowdin. Heh...I hope Sans and Papyrus' house is plenty warm. I-I don't do well in the cold."

"Neither does she. So...erm...If everything goes okay between me and Asgore, expect me to come around again by, say...I don't know, sometime tomorrow around dawn? What time is it now...?"

She checked the time on the phone; October 25th, 11:52 p.m. Eight minutes to midnight. But with the elevators working, she wouldn't have to rush.

"So...Al'?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Remember what happened at the CORE?"

"...Yeah."

"I didn't think I was gonna be seeing you again at that point, so...I didn't get to give you a proper goodbye, you know?"

"Heh...Y-you make it sound like it's been months since then," she joked.

She was unaware that from Ginger's perspective, that'd actually been the case.

"So, if I don't come back, for some reason, just in case...Would you mind giving that thing back to Papyrus? He and Undyne enjoyed it, so..."

She handed the DVD box down to her.

"O-okay. I'll do that."

"And, ah...I got somethin' else. For, uh...for you. That I found at the dump alongside that movie thing."

She started to dig into her messenger bag again and took hold of it. This little thing had served its purpose in the last timeline, and now it was time to pass it on.

"It looked kinda like something from one of those anime, and I thought it was cool, so..."

_Ugh, Glaux. The Huntress is such a sentimental dork,_ she reprimanded herself.

"Forget it, just take the darn thing. Keepsake, or whatever."

She just pulled the item out and tossed it at the Royal Scientist, who just barely caught it with fumbling hands.

"Whoa. What's...Oh..."

"So, whadaya think? Too soft? Wait till everyone finds out I'm what a tsundere I am, huh?"

Alphys barely heard her; she was busy gushing over how adorable it was.

"_Uweee,_ WHERE'D YOU FIND THIS, IT'SADORABLEANDIT'SINSUCHGREATSHAPEWHOWOULDTHROWAWAYTHISEEVEETHAT'SNUTSTHANKYOUSOMUCHYOU'RE...Y-you're..."

"Done yet?"

"Sorry. Heh...Went off on a bit of a tangent there. Erm...You really are a great friend. I-I know you don't think so, b-but..."

She squeezed the plush, a light pink tint forming across the scales on her face.

"Ohh...You're awful sweet, you know that?"

Ginger sighed, and a smile appeared on her face. Never did she think she'd take anything like that as a compliment...What a twist.

"...C'mere, pal."

She knelt down and opened her arms wide, inviting Alphys in, and she gave her one last hug goodbye.

"Hey, and...um...Thanks for helping me out there w-with the amalgamates. And...everything you've ever done f-for me, before that. I really owe you one. If...if you do come back, then just ask me if you ever need anything, a-and I'd be more than happy to back you up. You and U-Undyne and Sans and everyone else...I really owe you guys a lot. Heh heh...Hey. I-I even think my nervous stutter is starting to go away, you know?"

"You and I really backed each other a lot during this whole thing, didn't we?"

"Yeah..."

"...Alright, no more mushy stuff. Get over here!"

Before the Royal Scientist could react, Ginger had her in a headlock and was ruffling up the plumage on her head.

"_Gyack!_ Hey! Let go! Hahaha!"

"Weren't expecting THAT, huh?"

"No! I wasn't! Ha ha...Heh..."

She let go, then gave Alphys one more, lighter scratch on the head.

"Well...I gotta get to New Home. Mind if I take the elevator?"

"Go on ahead. Here, just follow me there; w-we're both going in the same direction right now, anyway."

The Huntress followed her to the Power Room; Alphys took the elevator off to the west, leaving the center shaft to her human friend.

"Well...I-I gotta bundle up and head over to Snowdin...See you again, a-at some point. Sooner or later, I guess."

"Bye, Alphys."

They parted ways, and Ginger huffed out a sigh as she headed into the elevator. And she was just about to take the quick flight to New Home when...

She noticed the two monitors along the wall to the generator. They had been deactivated when she passed them by the last time, but now, it looked like they were turned on. Wondering what they said, she approached them, deciding to read the farthest one first.

***ENTRY NUMBER 8**

**I've chosen a candidate. I haven't told Asgore yet, because  
I want to surprise him with it..In the center of his garden,  
there's something special. The first Golden Flower, that grew  
before all the others. The flower from the outside world. It  
appeared just before the queen left. I wonder...What happens  
when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?  
**

"Well," Ginger scoffed. "I happen to know what..."

And then, she trailed off, realizing something that could have...

"Wait..."

***ENTRY NUMBER 18**

**The flower's gone.**

"...Oh, no..."

Something without a SOUL gaining the will to live.

The Golden Flower that grew before all the others.

Alphys was responsible for...

Him.

And then, she realized something else. Something she'd completely forgotten about until now.

...In this timeline, Asgore hadn't been killed by Flowey...

And in turn, SHE hadn't avenged him.

Flowey was back. She didn't know where, but he was back. And what was worse...

He would remember. What would he do? To what lengths would he go to get his revenge?

"Oh, no...No, no, no, no, I need to get to New Home!"

If she warned the king that she knew what would happen in the future, maybe she could stop Flowey before he started anything. She dashed back into the elevator, skidded across the floor and pressed the button that would take her back to the castle...

But before the elevator started up, her phone rang. She pulled it out.

...And on the other end of the line, there was a voice she'd never heard before.

"_Chara...Are you there? It's been a long time, hasn't it...?_"

She froze. There was something...not right about this voice.

"_...But you've done well,_" it continued. "_Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place._"

"...You have the wrong number," she told it."

"_...Trust me...I don't. Well...See you soon._"

The elevator doors slid shut, and as the elevator began to rise back into New Home, it became unstable again, flashing the warnings and red lights.

"**WARNING! WARNING!**"

"**OBSTRUCTION IN SHAFT!**"

"**AIR PRESSURE LOSING STABILITY!**"

"**VELOCITY INCREASING! ALTITUDE RISING!**"

And then, as suddenly as it began, the lights faded and the alarms grew quiet. The elevator didn't crash into its destination, but rather slowed, and then came to a halt...And then, the doors opened up, revealing the slate grey scape of New Home

Ginger stumbled out, knees weak and heartrate high. All of what she'd just experienced within the past minute was overwhelming...

But she had to get back to the king.

She tried to shake the uneasiness from herself as she turned the corner north, coming to the branch in the path; she could either take the other elevator for a quicker arrival or she could take the long way. Ginger checked the time on her phone again; 11:57. Just about midnight. She didn't want the elevator to malfunction again, but if it got her back to the Throne Room faster, she decided to take the risk.

To her pleasant surprise, the elevator decided to work right this time, and she was taken right to the Judgment hall in a jiffy. She nodded, satisfied, then began a brisk walk, borderline jogging down the golden corridor, then turned north and went through the Throne Room, Barrier-bound. She was too concentrated on her current thoughts to stop and take note of her surroundings.

...So she didn't see who was standing in the back corner of the Throne Room, waiting for her. Nor did she see her begin to follow her into the north room, slowly and quietly.

Her gait had slowed, now, as she approached the end of the cavern to meet the king again. She brushed her foot across the Save Point there before she went in.

***The End**

***File Saved**

She had to admit to herself; she was a bit nervous about going back in there, now, but for different reasons than before. What would he say when he saw her? Did he...figure_ it_ out, knowing just who she was acquainted with ever since the start of her journey? She peeked around the corner...

And there he stood, just like last time. But he did not seem aware that she was behind him.

Ginger cleared her throat to alert him, and his entire body tensed.

"Your Majesty?" she addressed him.

"...You've returned."

"That I have."

"...So...That's..."

"Asgore?"

Out of the blue, the king fell to his knees as though he'd just been struck by a bullet.

"ASGORE!"

She rushed to his aid as he collapsed, fearing that the miserable Flowey may have sniped him with one of his accursed "friendliness pellets" from afar. But this turned out not to be the case. She looked down at his hidden face, and his body convulsed with heavy sobs. The pain that made the king fall was not of the body, but rather of the SOUL.

"...I can't do it..." he gasped. "I can't do this to you...!"

Shakily, he rose to face her, but he was still on his knees, and his cries refused to quell.

"...I've hurt so many people. The humans, the kingdom...I drove my own wife away, I'm such a miserable,_ miserable_ creature...!"

He buried his face in his hands again.

"No you're not, Asgore. It's...It's okay, I'm right here..."

She enveloped his enormous head as best she could in attempt to console him, and in turn, Asgore held her back, almost as though he'd known this human for years, and she was his own child...just like the first one to fall had been.

"...I'm sorry for what I did to all of you children..." he said to the SOULs flashing in their holders. "I'm sorry, citizens, for failing you and putting you all through this misery..."

He tightened his grip.

"...I'm sorry, Toriel...!" he whimpered, his voice nothing more than a squeak. "I'm sorry for what I said that day, I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt you! I would bring them all back to you, if only I could...!"

Wherever she was, it was then that he made a promise to her. He would not lay a harming hand on this human, and no other human ever again.

He loosened his hold on the Huntress and looked her in the eye. She was shedding tears, now, too.

"...You're probably not gonna believe this," she said to him. "...But I've done a lot worse things up there than you. If...If you're a miserable creature, I'm a _hellspawn_."

"No, no, you're not, I promise..."

He brushed away one of her tears with the pad of his thumb, and looked her in the eye; the familiar glimmer of one who had gone through too much hardship and being far too young to bare it was strong and apparent. He knew that gaze too well.

"...Young one..." he continued, finally calming down. "...You remind me so much of the first human to have fallen down here. You have that same look in your eyes...Haunted by the past, but...with great hope that the future will be better. Chara was like that..._I_ am like that, now, I admit. The things you've done, the things you've been through... You are not alone in this. I am here for you. And so are my people. Alphys, Sans...Toriel. Everyone is on your side. Young one...You are our new hope...You are the future of humans and monsters...!"

A twinkle in his gaze and a newfound hope in his heart, Asgore took the human back into his arms, and she held on tighter.

...There was to be no battle now. They would both be alright.

Finally, the king rose to his feet, his eyes flashing with newfound vigor, and he pointed to the sky.

"...Come, child," he said to her, his voice having regained its strength. "I have a new policy to enstate!"

"What's that?" she grinned, ever happier with what she was now beholding.

"As King of the Underground, I hereby declare that henceforth, all humans who fall down here will be treated not as enemies...but as friends."

Ginger started to tear up again, and Asgore bent back down to console her.

"...What do you think of that?"

"I think it's a good idea," she agreed, the two of them sharing another warm embrace. "It really is..."

This was fine. No...It was wonderful. The war was over. For real this time. And she would be happy down here as long as she lived, if that came to be, with all of the amazing friends she'd made along the way. Forget the surface world. Forget the past. Forget the Pure Ones. This was her new calling.

"Well...If you ask me, I think that is the best idea you have had in ten years."

The voice came from behind, without any warning. The king and the Huntress turned to face the doorway, and there, just inside the Barrier room, stood none other than...

"TORIEL!"

Ginger bolted from the king to meet her, and the other Boss Monster kneeled as she approached and pulled her into a hug of her own.

"...I got the message you sent me...I must say, a lot of things I had not known were made plain, and...Oh, I am so, very glad you sent that. Not only did it make me realize a few things, but it also let me know you were still alright, I was so worried..."

"I'm okay, Toriel. Ha...Better than that, really. We...I just..."

"I heard everything, child. I was waiting in the Throne Room for you to arrive; I had gotten here a bit early. And...Well, you just passed right by. It looked like you were upset about something, so...I kept my distance until I heard..."

"The proclamation?"

She nodded.

"Yes...I heard that part, too."

She stood back up and looked over at Asgore, and she let go of the human child. He was frozen where he stood, almost certain his eyes were deceiving him.

But then, she drew nearer, looking him right in the eye. Her expression was stern, but she was not about to yell at him, having heard his lamentations.

"...Is it true, Asgore?" she asked him. "Have you really longed for me ever since I left? Are you really, finally going to end this horrible slaughter of mankind? And..."

She faltered for a moment.

"...Are you really as haunted by the past as I am?"

He gave no answer; he was speechless, finally convinced that what he was seeing and hearing was real. After several moments, he nodded, but his breathing grew heavy, he began to shake, and his face contorted into pained sadness as he started crying again.

"...What did I do to you...!?"

Toriel watched as her former husband fell back to his knees, crumbling into a heaping, weeping mess of sorrow and tears. She sighed and shook her head; no doubt, she was still angry at him for the things he'd done, but she couldn't help but sympathize him. They had both been through so much. And now knowing just how remorseful he was...

Finally, she bent down and placed a paw on his back in attempt to soothe him. The bitter memory of him lying in bed, just about half dead from the buttercup poisoning after their children had used the wrong ingredients in the pie they made him, came back to her. She had been right there beside him the whole time...It was strange, knowing that just a couple of months later, she had left him by himself.

"I have wondered the same of myself, Asgore," she told him. "And...Really, you are not entirely at fault here. I was the one who just...left. I should have come back, even if I did retreat to the Ruins. There was still time to stop it before it could start...But I wasted that time hiding away, afraid to face my responsibility as queen. It seems as though you have finally come to your senses...And I am glad of that, at least."

He rose his head, still breathing heavily, but a small smile formed on his muzzle.

"...I thought I'd never see you again. Tori. After all this time, I-"

She tensed at the petname, then finally gave him the piece of her mind he needed to hear.

"Do not 'Tori' me, Dreemurr," she just barely snapped, the smile on his face fleeing. "You might have finally seen your mistake, but I will say now, I am still absolutely _livid_ at the things you have done. Collecting only one human SOUL and trying to get the other six from the surface might have been too dangerous a task, but it does not excuse the deaths of six human children that you called upon. And it does not matter how many you may have taken with your own hands; you were the one who ordered for it, and you are therefore the one ultimately responsible."

His head lowered, tears still streaming from his blue eyes.

"...I will not deny that," he admitted. "And...I know that the things I have done c-cannot be undone...Oh, Toriel, no word exists that can tell you how sorry I am...!"

The human went back to comfort the king, standing beside him as he dried his face.

"...You were good to Toriel, right?"

"...I'll be honest with you," Ginger admitted. "I was actually sort of...cold to her. I was confused, and mad, and I just wanted to get back up there, and...I'm not gonna lie to you either, Toriel; I thought you were...kinda clingy at the time."

"Well...I cannot say I blame you for thinking that," Toriel replied. "I believe I came off that way to...some of the ones before you."

"Now I know why, though, and...I realized just how much I missed you when I got to Waterfall."

"I will not desert you again, dear," she promised, approaching her and the king to face her. "I am right here for you. And...and so is Asgore."

The smile returned to the king's face, for just a fleeting moment, and the river of tears streaming down his face still flowed strongly.

"I...I feel as though this could be means for a new beginning," he mused. "Toriel, I...If you can't stay with me anymore, because of what I did, then...C-could we at least be friends again? I'm sorry, Toriel. I've been so alone for so long, it...I'm just glad to see you again either way. Really I am."

The former queen let out an uncertain sigh and looked off to the side.

"...I don't know, Asgore," she answered him. "There is still a lot I need to think about."

He nodded in understanding, Ginger still standing by his side; if he had pushed Toriel too far away, maybe he could make something out of what they had now.

"Hey! Hold up, peeps! Lay down the weapons!"

The voice came from just outside the Throne Room, and the sound of heavy boots running towards them got louder, and then the feet skidded to a halt. Toriel's gaze widened at what she saw; there stood a slim, but muscular piscine monster, with hair as red as rust and a patch over her left eye.

"Undyne?" Asgore realized. "What brings you here?"

"I was already on my way here with Alphys when a friend of mine gave me a ring sayin' to get over here, and I didn't want everything going south," the captain answered. "Little Miss Stick Figure here might be a pain in my hole, but if you two end up fighting to the death, the Underground's gonna take a blow, no matter which one of you dies. So nobody fight each other, or else I'll..."

She trailed off when she noticed Toriel standing there.

"Oh. Well, hello there," the queen greeted her. "Are you one of young Ginger's friends?"

She mock gagged, and so did the human in question, before giving her answer.

"When Hotland freezes over," she snickered, a mocking, toothy smirk on her face. "Honestly? I ain't gonna kill her, or anything like that, but she _smells_."

"Bold choice of words coming from a fish, wouldn't you say?"

Undyne was about to snap back at her, but then she remembered their pact. Sure, insults could be flung here and there, but nothing _too_ overboard.

"...Whatever. So, uh...Wait. Aren't you Queen Toriel?"

"Erm...Yes, as a matter of fact."

"Holy crud...You haven't been around since my last year of junior high. Asgore's told me bunches about you, though."

She turned back to give her ex a bit of a cynical look.

"...Have you, now?"

"Uh..."

The pink of his face showed through his white and gold pelt.

"Good stuff, I promise. So, uh...Nice seein' you again, I guess."

She went to stand beside Asgore, Ginger shuffling away some.

"So, is she, like...your ex?" she whispered to him, to which he gave another solemn nod.

"Jeez...That's rough."

"It's...not as bad as you might think," he assured his protégé. "What went on between us was...civil, to say the least."

"What happened to your little...***ahem***..._rendezvous_ with Alph'?" the human added, eyebrows waggling in a suggestive manner.

"Would you quit that? Ugh...Met up with her up in Waterfall. We changed out plans and decided to meet up here instead. We didn't want anything to happen."

"So...Is she supposed to be here?"

"Hey! Wait!"

The Royal Scientist's familiar nasally voice rang out as her claws clicked down the hallway, and she turned into the Barrier room, looking about ready to collapse.

"I'm not...as fast...as you..." she puffed. "Ah...Don't...Nobody hurt each other! Please...Ha...ha...Eh...Uhh..."

This didn't look like a fight; it looked like a get-together. Ginger, Asgore and Undyne were standing there, looking pretty content with how things were. And then there was...

"Are you the Royal Scientist, Dr. Alphys?" Toriel asked. "Oh, you are _simply_ adorable."

"...Queen Toriel? Wh-what are you doing here? You've been gone for years!"

"I figured it wise to come put a stop to any violence. Young Ms. Wingren here mentioned you in the note she had delivered to me, stating she considers you a close friend. Is this the case?"

"U-uh..."

The yellow scales on her face flushed pink again, and she shuffled one of her feet in an awkward fashion.

"Well...Y-yeah, that is the case."

"I knew I said I'd 'see you soon,' but I didn't think it'd be THIS soon," the Huntress joked.

"Heh...Yeah, i-it's funny, isn't it?"

"HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYBODY! IF ANYBODY FIGHTS ANYBODY, THEN I'LL! BE FORCED! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!"

"Now what in the name of..."

Toriel trailed off when she saw the six-and-a-half foot skeleton standing there, wearing the most RIDICULOUS getup. But in a weird way, it...suited him?

"Are you her friend, too?"

"OH! HELLO, YOUR MAJESTY! WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO SPARE THE HUMAN FOR US?"

"I think I can do that," the queen giggled.

Papyrus bent down to whisper something to the human.

"PSST...DID ASGORE SHAVE?" he asked, his eyes then diverting to the ACTUAL king. "AND...CLONE HIMSELF?"

"I'll explain later, man."

"hey, guys. what'd i miss?"

Toriel's eyes widened, not sure if her ears were deceiving her.

"That voice...!"

She turned to face the door again, and there stood another skeleton, far shorter than the first, a grin on his face. She approached him curiously.

"Hello there, young man," she greeted. "I think we may...know each other?"

"oh, hey...i recognize your voice, too, ya know?"

"Ha...I wondered what you might have looked like many a time...I didn't think I'd be THIS close!" she chuckled. "I am Toriel; it is very nice to finally meet you in person."

"name's sans. and, uh...same."

"You...you know my loyal judge?" the king asked.

"met her in snowdin forest," Sans explained. "she answered to one of my knock-knock jokes from in the ruins one day while i was practicin', and it's been a thing ever since."

"Well, I..." he said to the queen. "I am certainly glad that you haven't been alone this whole time, Toriel. And...Sans is a very amusing character. I'm glad the two of you are acquainted with one another, to put it simply."

"Oh...Wait, then...!"

She turned to the taller of the two skeleton brothers.

"This must be your brother, Papyrus!" she exclaimed, taking his gloved hand with her paw to shake it. "Oh, it is so nice to meet you! Sans had told me so much about you!"

"WOWIE...I CAN'T BELIEVE ASGORE'S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"So, Papyrus..." Toriel continued, a mischievous smirk slipping across her face. "Tell me...What does a skeleton tile his roof with?"

"HMM...SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES, RIGHT?"

"No, silly! A skeleton tiles his roof with..."

"WAIT..."

"...SHIN-gles."

Papyrus' reaction was absolutely priceless.

"I CHANGED MY MIND! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

Sand and Toriel burst into hysterical laughter. Asgore watched the scene, and smiled. They were so happy...

He couldn't help but let slip a sad frown, just for a moment, and he turned away in shame.

"Hey, come on, Asgore," Undyne cheered him. "It's gonna be okay. There are plenty of fish in the sea!"

"Y-yeah!" Alphys agreed. "Undyne's totally right about that fish thing! Sometimes, you've just gotta, y-you know...s-stop going after furry Boss Monsters, and, uh...Just get to know a...really cute fish...? Uhh..."

She looked up to see Undyne staring down at her, seeming a bit embarrassed.

"It, uh...It's a metaphor."

"Well..." the captain finally answered, flashing another toothy smile. "I think it's a pretty good analogy."

And then, there came yet someone ELSE from around the corner. But the only part of him that came into view from the doorway was...

His leg.

"**OH! MY! GOD!**" he buzzed. "**WOULD YOU TWO JUST _SMOOCH_ ALREADY!? THE AUDIENCE IS _DYING_ FOR SOME ROMANTIC ACTION!**"

"Nobody asked for your opinion, bolts-for-brains!" Ginger called out to him as he disappeared again.

"Yeah! What she said!" Undyne chimed in; their disdain for Mettaton was one of the only things they could agree on. "Man...The_ nerve_ of that guy! Makes me wanna tie those noodle arms up in knots just for the fun of it...You know what I'm sayin', Alphys?"

She was silent, her pink blush having gone even redder.

"Uh...Alphys?"

"N-no...He's right. LET'S DO IT!"

The fish monster froze there, her face going puce again.

"What...!? Here? With everyone...Uhhh...Well? I guess? If you want to?"

She shrugged, then scooped her girlfriend up into her arms.

"Okay, then...Don't hold anything back, Al'!"

"Oh, no..." the human uttered. The two lovebirds puckered their lips and readied to meet each other, and Ginger turned away in a panic.

"No, no, _no, **no, NO**_...!"

"Ahh, not in front of the children, you two!"

The Huntress opened her eyes to find that Toriel had come between them before anything could happen.

"Uh...Sorry," Alphys apologized. "G-got a little carried away for a second there."

"THANK YOU, TORIEL," the human said to her; it sounded exaggerated, but she very well meant it.

"So, young one...I am afraid you will have to stay down here for a while. But, looking at all of the great friends you have made...Will you be happy here, with all of us?"

"I should think...In fact, I think this might be the first step into a brighter future for all of us."

She approached the queen again, and they wrapped their arms around one another yet again.

"Now, what is this?" Toriel mused. "I thought you did not like hugs."

"How did you know that, I never told you that..."

"I figured it out myself; I just have that motherly instinct when it comes to children...Something seems to have changed since you left."

"A few things have, I'll admit...I'm glad we're all here, though."

"And we are not going anywhere, child..."

"Hey...Th-that reminds me," Alphys realized. "Papyrus...YOU were the one who called everyone here, right?"

"THAT IS CORRECT, DOCTOR!"

"Uh...Besides Queen Toriel, At least...Undyne and I g-got here before you. How did you know to call everybody here?"

"OH, LET'S JUST SAY A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME," he answered. "OR, MORE ACCURATELY...A TINY FLOWER TOLD ME!"

The jovial atmosphere came to a halt, and Ginger practically turned to stone where she stood.

"A...tiny flower?" Alphys echoed.

"Oh, no...No, no, no, he's coming!"

"Who's coming?" Asgore inquired, concerned.

"No time to explain! Everyone-"

She spoke a moment too late.

Out of nowhere a thorny vine shot out and wove itself around all of them and tightened its grip like a boa constrictor. In an instant, they were all trapped. Everyone panicked.

"What is going on!?"

"oh, shit..."

"AH! THIS DOESN'T SEEM FRIENDLY!"

"Hey! What gives!? LEGGO!"

"Help...HELP! S-somebody help! Anybody!"

"Who is responsible for this!?"

And then, Ginger saw the ground before her rumble, and the familiar face popped out from the ground.

"You IDIOTS," he sneered. "While you guys were having your little pow-wow...I TOOK THE HUMAN SOULS!"

"You won't get away with this, ya freaky little weed!"

Undyne tried to escape from the vines' hold as she hollered out, only for the grip on her to become even tighter, practically squeezing the breath right from her lungs.

"I already have, fish-breath...So, save it! You're a goner, too! Because now, not only do I have the _HUMAN_ SOULs, but all of _YOUR _SOULs are gonna be mine, too!"

"No..." Ginger breathed. Flowey turned to her, now.

"And you know what the best part is?" he told her. "...It's all YOUR fault. It's all because you MADE them love you. All the time you spent listening to them...Talking to them. Encouraging them. Caring about them...Without that, they wouldn't have come here. YOU are the one who lead them to their demise!"

"**_NOOOOO!_**"

"And with both their SOULs and the humans' under my control, I will FINALLY, after LONG YEARS, achieve my TRUE FORM!"

"DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME YOU DID THIS, FLOWEY!?" she hollered at him. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST GIVE IT UP! THERE'S NOTHING FOR YOU TO GAIN! There's...Come on...If you remember what happened, you can't be stupid enough to do it again."

"You just don't get it, do you?" Flowey snapped back. "...This is all just a GAME. If you leave the Underground satisfied, you 'win' the game. If you 'win,' then you won't want to PLAY with me anymore! And what would I do then?"

"...I don't understand."

"Of course you don't...And that's why I'm going to make sure this game between us NEVER ENDS. I'll hold victory in front of you, just within your reach...And then I'll TEAR IT AWAY JUST BEFORE YOU GRASP IT. OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER AGAIN, FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY."

"Not if I find a way out of it!"

"Still just as cocky as ever, huh? Hee hee...Alright. I'm entertained by all of this, so I'll propose a little wager. If you DO end up defeating me, I'll go ahead and give you your 'happy ending.' I'll go away. I'll bring your friends back. I'll even destroy the Barrier, since I'll have the power to do so. Everyone will finally be satisfied and everything will be all peachy-keen...But that WON'T happen. You...I'll keep you here, no matter what."

It was then that a box formed around the human, trapping her in an enclosed space. She could barely move.

And then, an array of spinning bullets surrounded the snare, from all sides.

"...EVEN IF IT MEANS KILLING YOU...ONE. MILLION. TIMES."

He let out a deranged cackle, and the friendliness pellets began their assault. One wave hit the human, then another, then a third. Ginger was trapped. They were all trapped. And this time, there would be no hope of escape.

...This was really the end.

The human was on the brink of death; only one HP remained, and the final wave of pellets honed in on her, ready to kill...

...And then, they were blocked.

A new array of bullets, flaming fireballs, stopped the enemy bullets from drawing nearer, and they bounced back and dissipated.

Flowey's psychotic grin faded.

"...What?"

"...Do not be afraid, child," Toriel suddenly encouraged. "No matter what happens...We will always be here to protect you!"

The flower snarled, firing up two more series of bullets from each side, only for them to be cut off by a bone to the right and a spear to the left.

"THAT'S RIGHT, HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN! I BELIEVE IN YOU! AND IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS BELIEVES IN YOU, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!"

"Kid...I know we're not friends...but we're not enemies anymore, either. If you could get past THESE muscles, you can muscle your way right through this guy! So put 'em up! For us! We're all with you on this!"

"what? you haven't beaten this guy yet? come on; this weirdo's got nothin' on ya."

Flowey tried yet again, and was blocked by another row of flames, and then a shield of bolts.

"T...technically, it's impossible for you to beat him..." Alphys chimed in. "But...Somehow, I-I know you can still do it! Defy the odds!"

"Human..." Asgore smiled. "For the future of humans and monsters...You have to stay determined!"

The atmosphere was suddenly choked by green bullets, all of them heading out towards the Huntress.

So many monsters appeared there along side them. Kidd, Snowdrake, the Canine Unit, the Royal Guards, and so many others had come to her aid during her greatest time of need. And as they healed her wounds, they all gave her their own encouraging words.

"Freeze this guy solid!"

"C'mon, you got this!"

"_Raff, raff!_"

"Ribbit...!"

"We're in with you on this, lil' dudette!"

"You HAVE to win!"

"Ahh~! I'll help, too!"

"_Grrrr-AFF!_"

"Urrrgh...NO! Unbelieveable!" Flowey cried out, seemingly outnumbered. "This can't be happening...! You...YOU...!"

Everything froze again, and the sadistic grin return to his face.

"...I can't believe you're ALL. SO. STUPID."

"Oh, no..."

"_ALL_ YOUR SOULS ARE **_MIIIIIIIINE!_**"

As his victory scream rang out, the entire earth seemed to shake with his own power. Everything began to disappear into a white oblivion. All of the Underground. The human SOULs. The monsters. Her friends. EVERYONE. All at Flowey's MERCY.

And he had not a merciful petal on his body.

Everything vanished, and the entire Underground was gone in a flash of white.

* * *

_..._

* * *

...She wasn't sure how much time had passed.

Ginger rose to her feet again, and was greeted by an inky blackness that she knew all to well.

The void...she was back here again.

She looked down at herself; she wore nothing but her old orange and white shirt. No cloak, no armor, nothing to protect herself with. And she was alone...Would she find that Flowey had summoned another mock-Save Point for her to stumble across, only to shatter her Save File yet again, and fight her like the beast he would become?

The Huntress started to breathe heavily again. She was going to have to do hat all again, wasn't she? She looked this way and that, and then turned around all the way to look behind herself in search of the telltale glimmering star.

But when she looked that way, she was met with something entirely different.

There, standing just a handful of yards away from her, stood the small form of...

A monster.

Its back was turned to her, so she couldn't see its face, but the white pelt, Nubian ears and pawed appendages signified a Boss Monster...The youngest-looking one that she'd seen yet. The monster had no horns, and was barely taller than Alphys at full height. The long-sleeved shirt it wore was striped green and yellow, and she noticed the tiny tuft of fur it had sticking up out of the top of its head.

The monster turned its head slightly to the left, then to the right, and then stood still again. It flexed each of the stubby, padded digits of its forepaws, drew in a deep breath, and then, when it exhaled, clenched its hands into angry fists. The creature was small, but Ginger could sense the rage flowing through its veins.

"...Finally," it whispered in a deathly hush. "...I was so tired of being a flower."

The voice was very young, and male...

And all too familiar.

She knew that voice.

She knew this monster.

And then, one of his pawed feet shifted to the side, and slowly, he turned to face the human, head still tilted downward. And then, the figure rose his head. He smiled, and his eyes opened, revealing them to be a soft hazel...But they flashed with a dangerous light that no child should possess.

"...Howdy," he greeted, his tone dead pan, the light in his eyes flashing brighter. "Chara...Are ya there?"

_It can't be..._

"It's me...your best friend...!"

There was another white flash, and where the young prince once stood, there now hovered a creature of untold power...That looked just like the one depicted in the plaque in Waterfall, and the plaque in Ebott Village. A creature clothed in royal robes, emblazoned with the Delta Rune, eyes as black as the void itself, and a stripe-streaked face which bore teeth as sharp as daggers.

This was no floral beast.

This was a prince.

This was a GOD.

This was...

**ASRIEL DREEMURR.**


	38. Chapter 36: The Angel Returns

How was this possible?

Asriel, the prince of the Underground, who had been dead for years, now hovered before her, eyes flashing with menace. How was he back from the dead? Where did he come from? Where was Flowey?

_...Wait a minute..._

"_I was so tired of being a flower._"

Asriel's dust had fallen onto the Golden Flower when he died, and then when Alphys injected a healthy does of **DETERMINATION **into it...

"I happen to know what you're thinking," Asriel told her, his voice now deeper, and sporting a sadistic sneer. "And you'd be right. Flowey's gone. I'm back. And I'm going to take control of EVERYTHING once and for all."

The void suddenly began to flash with the being's own power, colored lights spewing all across the darkness and breaking the silence. Asriel raised his arms, then disappeared from view. In his place, a storm of bullets began cascading down towards the Huntress; shooting stars, spinning as they flew and exploding into scores of smaller bullets as they drew near. His attack was sudden and swift; Ginger managed to weave around some of them, but was ultimately hit by several of the projectiles. Then came the final wave of the attack came her way, and the last, largest of the star-shaped missiles erupted into near a hundred smaller clones of itself. The human was still in shock, and just barely managed to dance around them as they spread out.

"You know something?" the prince remarked as he came into view again. "I don't care about destroying this world anymore. I just want to RESET everything!"

"Why...?"

"Because I _CAN_. And I _WILL_, once you're FINALLY OUT OF MY WAY!"

He summoned another attack as his form vanished. Parts of the battlefield flashed red; warning signs signifying unavoidable attacks about to strike those parts of the area, as she'd seen twice before. She moved into a clear section...

Just as the lightning came crashing down towards her.

The spot she was in flashed next, and she just barely flung herself out of the way in time, and then again when they struck in THAT spot, coming careening down from above as though there was an immense storm raging across the void. Three more bolts of energy came down, faster, bigger, and more sudden than the last three waves; too fast for the human to get past all of them unscathed. The last bolt, striking right in the middle of the field, clipped her as she swung to the side, and a strong course of static electricity went through her veins, sharply and painfully, worse than anything she'd felt yet, even if the worst of it was only brief. There was no doubt this was the strongest entity she'd faced yet; even more powerful than what Flowey turned into with only six SOULs.

But now he had the equivalent of seven on him, stable enough to keep them all under his control, and he was no longer trapped in his leafy shell.

"So...You hold up your reputation for being hard to hit," he admitted. "Well, then...Dodge THIS! _CHAOS SABER!_"

The deity summoned two twin blades in his hands, trapping his mere mortal enemy within a small space, blocked off from the rest of the battlefield by magic barriers.

He swung the left blade, then the right, then the left one twice, then the right again; the unpredictable pattern of his attacks made them hard to avoid, and again, Ginger was hit, each of the two weapons making their mark once each. Several flecks of blood flew into the void, only to disappear from sight into thin air. The human held her side; she had just barely been hit by the tip of the blade, but the wound was nearly an inch deep. Any deeper and it would have very well sliced into something important.

Even so, she was absolutely in awe of Asriel's power. She was not only terrified, but speechless.

"No cries for MERCY, huh?" he taunted. "Just give up. You're no match for all the SOULs combined...That sounds familiar, doesn't it?. I'm the one in control! All your friends... All your progress...Everyone's memories...I'll bring them all back to zero! _SHOCKER BREAKER!_"

His godlike power had gone right to his head; he really WAS going to steal control of the timeline!

_...Not if I have anything to say about it._

The field flashed again, and Ginger did as best she could to avoid the bolts of brightly colored lightning that came crashing down throughout the void. This type of power was unable to be taken down with brute force; he would be entirely invincible against any attacks she threw at him. Besides, despite him quite literally threatening the entire plain of existence, she couldn't find the will in her SOUL to attack him. There HAD to be another way to go about this.

For the time being, all she could really do was hold on to her hopes, just like she'd been doing all along.

A surge of energy coursed through her body; some of the damage she'd taken from his attacks lessened.

"And once I do that," he continued. "Then we can do everything ALL over again. And then, you'll lose to me again...And again. And AGAIN!"

"You've gone MAD!"

Asriel snarled.

"It doesn't matter...Mad or sane, I'll still defeat you! _STAR BLAZING!_"

He vanished again, the shower of flashing stars coming down across the plain of the void again, spewing out the smaller bullets as they collided with the invisible surface that the young human stood on. She found it wise to steer clear from the impacts, as the smaller star bullets spread out a lot upon impact, and were easier to dodge from there.

Then the big one came again, and she noticed it just a bit too late to avoid the storm of missiles that came from it. Three of them struck her, and the sheer power of the god's magic did far more in a single hit than anything else she'd seen. It wouldn't take many hits to make her fall...

But she couldn't give up yet.

"Just STAY STILL so I can finish the job!" he demanded, thinking for a second that she would listen to him. "_CHAOS BUSTER!_"

He summoned another weapon, unlike any Ginger had ever seen before. It aimed its course of missile trajectory across the field, and he kept the tip if the weapon pointed at his stubborn opponent no matter where she tried to go to avoid being struck. And then, he fired it; the white bullets spread out in three different directions, one to her left, one to her right and the middle one directly at her; she tried to squeeze into the space between the middle and right paths of trajectory to avoid the missiles, and it worked until the aim changed, now sporting FOUR paths, none of which were pointed directly at her. She realized this too late, as well, and got herself right into one of the streams of bullets as they fired out.

He intervened between three and four throughout the attack, and despite having been wounded by the bullets, she kept with her original strategy, and it wasn't until the end that Asriel pulled something completely unexpected. The weapon he wielded loaded with concentrated magic energy, sporting all of the seven colors of the human SOULs, including her own. She leapt away from its fire path...

Right when it fired an immense beam of glowing energy!

The burst was so intense, it made the entire void shake. But the human still stood her ground against the being.

"You're weak..." he jeered. "Just look at yourself! Weakened. Wounded. No hopes for the future. Why don't you just GIVE up!?"

There was a brief pause, and after choosing her words, the Huntress finally looked him in the eye and dared to say them.

"...Did YOU give up when you were like that?"

His expression softened into shock, just for a few seconds, but he immediately shook the thought from his head.

"That was then! This was now! It's KILL or BE killed in this world! Don't you get it!? I was a weak-minded FOOL back then! And now I'm the most powerful creature in all the universe! So BOW BEFORE ME!"

He summoned his blades again, and the human was careful to keep an eye on which arm he raised first; for an omnipotent creature, he was a bit strange with the execution of his attacks. If he was so powerful, couldn't he just destroy her by sheer will? Maybe he just wanted to keep toying with her, like he had in the beastly floral form he took on with only six SOULs in total.

_At least his attacks are a bit more...organized now?_

To the left to dodge, then the right, and the process repeated itself; maybe he thought she was expecting him to swing the same side twice. and finally the attack ceased.

"You think you're awfully clever, don't you?" he dismissed.

"Why are you DOING all of this, Asriel?" she finally asked him.

"Because it's what I was trying to do all this time, Chara! You'll NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!"

His smug grin was now replaced with upturned lips, and he emitted an almost wolf-like snarl as he summoned his Chaos Buster again.

Same as last time...Just get into the space between the shots as they come out.

She kept using this strategy; he didn't seem to notice her pattern of evasiveness just yet, and when he loaded up the weapons with the flashing energy again, she got as far away from the path of trajectory as she could as the weapon practically spewed out a beam of rainbows.

The void was like a prism, bending the white magic of his attacks and showing all of the different colors that were normally hidden. And they were all over the place, the lack of physicality the void had making them go all over the place. It was almost like some sort of strange dream or hallucination. It almost didn't feel real, although Ginger knew very well that it was. She came out of the attack unscathed.

"You really think you're all that, huh?"

"I've been through bullet hell, Asriel. I know how to dodge attacks."

"Really?" he challenged, raising his hands, letting them combust into sparks. "Then let's see just how well you deal with _SHOCKER BREAKER 2!_"

The battlefield flashed red again in several places, but this time, the bolts struck down even faster, and with less space between them. The human got past them, however, and thought she was finally in for the last wave of the electric assault when something changed. The flashes appeared next to each other, right where she was standing, and by the time she thought to jump out of the way, they were already crashing down upon her, sending the agonizing shoots of magic electricity up her entire system again. At this point, she was so drained by injury and so dazed by pain that she failed to see the final series of bolts heading right towards her, one after another...

Until, again, it was too late.

Already on the brink of death, she was smitten down by the bolt, and the last bit of life she held on to escaped, her SOUL ready to break away from its host body.

...

...

...But something happened.

She was supposed to perish right then and there, but instead, the SOUL, flashing scarlet within her chest, sent a pulse throughout her system in place of the voltage. A pulse that healed her wounds and rekindled her fighting spirit. What was going on...?

She was supposed to die.

She was supposed to lose.

Her SOUL was supposed to leave her mortal coil.

...

***But it refused.**

She would have questioned it, but now wasn't the time. She stood back up onto her feet, reinvigorated and ready to end this any way she saw how.

"So...You're THAT determined to live? Not giving up, even when you stare death right in the face?"

"I've done it before. Down here AND up there. I'll do it again."

"We'll see about that! _GALACTCA BLAZING!_"

He fired up the meteor shower of stars again; it wasn't much different from his Star Blazing attack, except for it being ever-so-slightly harder, with a few more stars here and there. Maybe he was running out of attack ideas. Maybe he would become predictable, and if she could predict and didge all of his attacks, then maybe in time...

"I won't let you outsmart me!" he bellowed. It was almost as though he'd read her mind...which, of course, he was probably capable of, being a god. "_CHAOS SLICER!_"

...It was just a slightly faster Chaos Saber with bigger blades.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit once the assault ended.

"Really, Asriel. Back where I'm from we had to memorize up to two dozen different attack types. What's with you?"

"I don't NEED that many attack types. I HAVE ENOUGH TO DESTOY YOU WITH A MILLION TIMES OVER, REMEMBER!?"

"Well, how about-"

"Enough! _CHAOS BLASTER!_"

He summoned the blaster, the bullets firing out of it; stronger, faster, and there were more of them. But he hadn't thrown her for a loop in a while.

"Why don't you just LET ME DEFEAT YOU? Oooooh, because you 'love your friends?' Because you want your 'happy ending'? What are you? Some sort of sentimental dork?"

"Uh...You know what? Yes. Yes, I am! A determined, sentimental dork!"

"So, it's true...Isn't that just delicious? Your 'DETERMINATION.' The power that let you get this far...It's gonna be your downfall! _SHOCKER BREAKER 2!_"

He vanished, and the bolt attack fired up again. Ginger remembered the uneven pattern of strikes across the field this time around, and she was careful to stay away from the blinding fast series of attacks to her left as they came down. Then the big ones flashed across the battleground again, and she steered clear of them as they approached, then sped off the left when the one farthest to the right readied to strike her; she just barely missed the bolt.

"Urgh! Alright! No more messing around!" Asriel roared, now frustrated. "It's time to purge this timeline ONCE AND FOR ALL! _**HYPER GONER!**_"

He rose high into the void, and in his place appeared the hellish image of a goat's skull. It let out a menacing laugh, then opened its bony jaws all the way open.

The void began to destabilize.

And with the void falling, the entire universe was at stake, the blackness beginning to implode into the vortex sucking in everything across the infinite expansion The expanse of the darkness grew smaller and smaller, the space decreasing. Pieces of the void itself tore away from the source and came coming right at young Ginger, and the intensity of the attack was enough to make any warrior go yeep. She shook the terror from her eyes, weaving around the dark matter as it came flying at her. It came faster, and in more pieces, and the bright white light emanating from the center of the black hole. She couldn't keep up with it. The sharp edges of the missiles slashed her unarmed form, drawing blood and causing more pain. She was just about to fall in defeat when...

The brightness subsided, and Asriel hovered there yet again.

"You're still standing, even after all that?" he marveled, somewhat impressed by her durability. "Wow...You really ARE something special, huh...?"

"I guess I could say..." the Huntress panted. "I am...a bit of...a spectacle."

"But don't get cocky. Up until now, I've only been using a fraction of my REAL power! Let's see what good your DETERMINATION is against** THIS!**"

Yet another blinding flash emitted from the deity, and everything else disappeared in an instant.

* * *

…

* * *

When Ginger opened her eyes, she was met with a new image.

Asriel's form had drastically changed; he'd now grown a pair of ragged, iridescent wings, his legs(now fused) tapered into a point, his horns were longer, and had the same lyre-shaped curve that his father's did, and the pointed fangs lining his jaws had grown sharper, and he gave off an almost primitive sound when he bore them. She noted the heart at his center, and on either of his armed hands. He almost looked like...

_The Delta Rune..._

"Urah ha ha ha ha...! Behold my TRUE POWER!"

He sent out a wave of new bullets out her way; they almost looked like comets, the glowing tails streaming behind dark centers. And there were so many of them, so close to each other, coming from either side. She couldn't hope to dodge all of them.

One struck her in the side and one in the leg, sending her falling to her knees.

"Surrender...You can't just dodge my attacks forever. Every time you die, you lose a bit more grip on this world. Your friends forget about you just a little more. Your life will end here, where nobody remembers you...So GIVE UP!"

He fired another onslaught of comets, but made the mistake of spacing them out more. The Huntress scrambled to her feet and just barely dodged all but one.

"STILL, you're hanging on!? Ha ha...Well, that's fine. In a few moments, you'll forget everything, too. And that attitude will serve you well in your next life! And forget moving out of the way anymore...I can fix that. No more fooling around!"

In an instant, the whole void seemed to close in on her; an invisible pressure holding her body the way it was.

She tried to move herself, just a bit. Nothing happened.

She struggled. Nothing happened.

_Maybe if I got to my Save File..._

Nothing happened. That was gone, too. Asriel was in total control.

This was it. It was really, actually the end this time. She couldn't SAVE anymore...

...

...

_...NO._

She didn't come this far for nothing.

She didn't go head-to-head with a god just to succumb to his will.

She didn't come this far to abandon the friends she'd come to make here, trapped inside of this creature.

...Maybe...

With what little power she had left against him...

...She could SAVE something else.

...She would save ALL OF THEM.

Something clicked. Asriel still stood there, and she was helpless against any attacks, but maybe, if she could tap into his SOUL, comprised of every SOUL in the Underground, she could break her friends free, just like she had with just the human SOULs. It might work. It might not, but...

She had to at least try.

She uttered no words, but through her DETERMINATION, she was able to reach someone trapped in there.

* * *

_..._

* * *

She appeared before them. They stood there, faces obsured by Asriel's own control. They didn't know they were being used as puppets. And then, they spoke.

"A-HA! A HUMAN APPEARS! I MUST CAPTURE IT!"

"...just give up. i did."

Instead of the comets being fired, the lost SOULs of the skeleton brothers fired up a team attack of bones, and the human's SOUL flashed blue.

She was familiar with these attacks; all she had to do was jump over them, timing her leaps just right to make it past the bullets. She pulled the first attack off, just barely stiffening herself in time for the blue bone to pass through her. She opted to say something to them, wondering if anything would trigger a memory and snap them out of it.

"Come on, guys...You remember me, right? Don't be a bunch of _numbskulls_, we can, like...talk about this, right?"

"YOUR TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOR MAKES ME WANT TO CAPTURE YOU EVEN MORE!"

"oh my god..."

Sans actually huffed out a laugh, and he ceased his own bone attacks.

"STIFLE YOURSELF, SANS! IF YOU WON'T HELP ME, I'LL HAVE TO DO THIS MYSELF!"

Another wave of attacks came; a mix of blue and white. Some of the bones crossed paths, and she had to time them just right...Easier said than done, it turned out; she was clipped by one of them as the passed by, going slower than she'd expected.

"How about instead of fighting me you whip up one of your spaghetti batches?"

"wait, no, kid, that's not a good idea...wait a second..."

"NYEEERGH! MUST...RESIST...URGE...TO BEFRIEND HUMAN..."

Then, all of a sudden...

The memories came flooding back, and they remembered everything!

**_FLASH_**

"WAIT A MINUTE! WHY WOULD I CAPTURE YOU? YOU'RE MY FRIEND!"

"not bad, kid...too bad i gotta use my special attack on you."

"What?"

"nah, i'm rootin' for ya, kid. keep at it. we ain't the only ones here, ya know."

"Right...I'm goin' in."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...So, we meet again. And we meet each other armed," Ginger sneered, drawing her bow from her pack.

"Save your breath! I won't let you live to see another day!"

Her SOUL flashed green, and the assault of mini-spears fired up from all sides yet again. She blocked all but one with the pipe part of her bow.

"Not bad...How about a little-"

Before she finished, the human clashed her weapon against her opponent's, the bow sliding against the spear.

"-Melee combat!?"

"You haven't got what it takes, stick-arms!"

"Oh, stick-arms, huh? Well, these must be some pretty strong sticks!"

She proceeded to elbow the fish monster right in the stomach, actually getting her to double over a bit.

"Ha! How do you like them sticks!?"

"You're the real enemy..." the creature snarled. "Give up your SOUL or I'll tear it clean from your body!"

Another series of small spears materialized, and again, they were blocked by the Huntress' signature weapon. And as they came, she continued to challenge her opponent, not even aware of half the things she was saying in her panicked rage.

"I'll give it up when I'm six feet under! And I'm not gonna let you get away with that! The king's made up his mind already! He's changed the policy!"

"I don't believe you for a second!"

"And for the love of Glaux, I am not going to be told what to do by a sprinking _GAY FISH__!_"

**_FLASH_**

Undyne's face came back into view. She gasped, looked down at her opponent, now completely aware of the situation, and her sclera went black again.

It was then that Ginger realized her folly.

"Wait...How much of that did I say out loud?"

"I'M GONNA SHOVE YOUR ASS SO FAR DOWN YOUR THROAT..."

She summoned perhaps a hundred spears, all of them pointed down at the human.

"WHEN YOU CRAP...YOU'LL SING _FUCKING_ **BEETHOVEN**."

"Quite a bit, I guess."

But both of them had disappeared from each other before the deadly assault could be fired.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"You, uh...didn't hear any of that, did you, Alphys?"

"...You hate me, don't you?"

"Al', no, I don't, I-"

Before she could finish, Ginger's SOUL flashed to yellow, and she saw the series of bombs descending from above. She remembered these attacks from the fight with Mettaton; maybe she knew them first and had implemented them into his system for his own use.

But that didn't matter now. What mattered was that she get past those attacks and snapped the attacker out of her amnesia.

She successfully got past all but the last wave unscathed; she was beginning to get worn down from these attacks, she noticed, even if she avoided most of them. She could only take so much more damage.

"Alphys...Come on, you remember me, don'tcha? Why would I hate you?"

"They'll all know...I have to keep lying..."

Another wave of her attacks came; the mini-Mettas. They were a bit slower than Mettaton's, and easier to fire at, so the human was able to get past them all more easily.

"...You don't have to lie anymore. I'm here for you. All of us are. We're friends, remember? Don't be afraid to fall back on us."

"Y-you sh-shouldn't have to worry ab-bout me. N-no one should, I-I'm n-not worth it..."

"No, Alphys, don't cry..."

She still couldn't see her face, but she knelt down anyway to put a hand on her trembling shoulder.

"All I do is h-hurt p-people. Just...l-leave me, I'll only drag you down."

"You don't drag me down," the human promised. "Aw, bud...You don't know just how loved you are, you know?"

"Y-you...really mean that...?"

"Yeah. And...And you know somethin' else?"

Her expression hardened, but the grin stuck fast there.

"What?"

"I think you look _frickin' ADORABLE_ in that lil' spotted dress you got on there, and I should have said that _WAY_ earlier!"

**_FLASH_**

Alphys gasped, hands over her open mouth and eyes filling with tears of joy.

"_You really think so...!?_" she rasped, on the verge of squeeing, smile big.

"And I doubt I'm the only one."

Alphys made an odd sound somewhere between laughing and happy-crying as her human friend pulled her in for another hug.

"What was I _thinking?_" she reflected. "That's not true...My friends like me! And, I-I like you, too!"

"Right back at'cha...I'll be back, Al'. I've got a universe to SAVE."

* * *

_..._

* * *

These were the last two, it looked like.

"...I came," she told them.

"So you have..."

"I should have figured you would follow me here..."

They both fired up their flames in their paws.

"This is for your own good, child."

"Please...Forgive me for this."

The first attack was the series of spinning infernos, with the one opening in the circle that she could pass through as they closed in. Easy enough; she got by without taking any damage, and she took her chance at the end of the move to speak again.

"There's another way to do this. Both of you can fix all this if you just listen to me."

"I cannot let anyone else leave..."

"It is my duty to the people...If I don't...who _will?_"

The wake attacks came next; they fired their flames in synchrony with one another, as though they knew each other all this time without ever being separated.

"You're both in shambles...I can help both of you, I promise."

"What ever do you mean, child?"

"How can you help us without...There is no other way."

"There is. There HAS to be. There ALWAYS is. And if we can't be free, then at least...At least we'll all be together still, right?"

They seemed awestruck by her.

"You both regret a lot of things, I know it. And...I know some pretty bad things happened in the past, but...Don't you two think it'd better to look to a brighter future?"

**_FLASH_**

"No...You are strong enough to survive this," Toriel realized. "Your fate is up to you now, child!"

"Don't give up hope..." Asgore encouraged. "You are our future. Stay determined!"

They both knelt down to envelop their hopes for the future in their doting arms, as they would have any child of their own.

And speaking of just that...

* * *

_..._

* * *

"What's going on...!?" the creature bellowed, teeth tightened into an angry grimace. "Something's not right! You...YOU did this! I know you did!"

He fired out another assault of his glowing comet bullets, and they shot out all across the field, stronger and more plenteous than they'd ever been. Ginger was already battered by several of her friends' attacks, so taking this now was not easy to stand her ground against anymore.

Asriel was too powerful. Everyone had been SAVED from him already. What else was there that she could do...?

...

...

...

It was then that she realized.

She HADN'T SAVED everyone.

There was still one more person she had left to SAVE.

And, once it dawned on her, she called out to him, his name echoing across the empty void...

"**_ASRIEL!_**"

...Time seemed to freeze.

The deity's face seemed to shift from blazing fury to pure shock.

And then, it seemed like his own memories were finally flooding back to him.

Everything.

The plan. Their failure. Their deaths. The loss of his emotion. The RESETS. The bloodshed. The dust. The final revival.

...But before all of that, there was a fall.

There was a bond.

And then, there was love.

"...What's happening to me?" he wondered aloud. "...What did you do...?"

_It's working... _she realized.

"Snap out of it, Asriel!" she continued. "It doesn't have to be this way!"

He simply stared down at her, as though he didn't believe his own ears.

"...You don't have to do this anymore."

"Wh...What's this feeling...? What's happening to me?"

"We can fix this."

"No...NO! I don't need ANYONE! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

His next assault was even more relentless, and Ginger strove to endure the hits she took, but still refused to fall in defeat.

"We can make this right."

"STAND BACK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I'LL TEAR YOU APART!"

He fired another barrage, but only halfheartedly; there were so few bullets this time, and they were so spaced out...It was almost as though he wanted her to dodge them.

"There's another way to settle this, Asriel."

He faltered for a moment, and then, his expression finally fell in sorrow.

"Chara...D-don't you know why I'm doing this? Why I'm fighting to keep you around?"

He fired another series of attacks; standard fire magic, raining down from above, although none of the flames came her way. They just poured down on either side of her.

"It's...It's because you're special, Chara. You're the only one that understands me. Y-you're the only one who's any fun to play with anymore."

The human before him was silent.

"...No. That's not JUST it. I'm doing this because I care about you, Chara...I care about you more than anybody else!"

Something was happening. But what, exactly, Ginger wasn't sure.

"I'm not ready for this to end...I'm not ready for you to leave...I'm not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again..."

"Asriel...?"

"So, PLEASE...STOP doing this...AND JUST _LET ME **WIN!**_"

He fired up a new attack in his clawed hands.

And the prismatic beam of light that spewed from his fingertips engulfed the entire battlefield. Ginger had nowhere to run. Nothing to defend herself with. She was taking the force of the attack head on. Her body felt like it was splitting apart. As though any instant, it would scatter into a million pieces...

...But there was a burning feeling somewhere, deep inside her SOUL.

A burning feeling that WOULDN'T let her die.

If Asriel gained full control of the timeline...It would be the end. Monsters. Humans. Everyone...Who KNEW what might happen!?

_Everyone's hopes...everyone's dreams...vanquished in an instant._

"STOP IT!"

_...But I CAN'T let you do that._

"STOP IT NOW!"

_For the sake of the whole world..._

Finally, he gave up, and the light faded. The void began to calm, the vibrant, flashing colors in his wings growing dimmer.

_...I'll SAVE you._

He seemed to hear her as clear as day. And still, she stood there, just barely clinging to life. Bloodied. Battered. Bruised. Burned. Sustaining all fathomable wounds.

...But she refused to die.

"I...I'm so alone, Chara."

"You're not alone."

"I'm so afraid, Chara."

"I'm right here..."

"I...I..."

The void faded from black to white again, slowly, and silently, as the awe-striking power of Asriel's presence faded. Once again, everything vanished from view.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

He stood there, weeping into his pawed hands. He was back to the way he once was; small and meek, with no wings, no stripes on his face, no horns, even, and his old green and yellow-striped shirt had returned in place of the dark robes.

After several long moments, he finally regained some of his composure, wiped the tears away with his sleeve, and rose his head to face. His eyes no longer flashed with that disturbing anger that she'd first seen in them. There was no more rage. No more hatred. Instead, there was something far different.

Regret. Regret and sorrow was all there was.

"Heh..." he smiled mockingly at his own emotions. "...I was always a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara?"

"Asriel..."

He paused for a moment.

"...I know. You're not actually Chara...Chara's been gone for a long time."

She nodded in understanding.

"...Um...I know I've heard it before, but I don't really...What, um...What _is_ your name?" he asked.

"It's...It's Ginger," she answered him, noticing that her earlier wounds had suddenly healed again.

"'Ginger,' huh?" he repeated. "That's...a nice name. Heh..."

His expression softened again, the smile on his face threatening to fade again.

"I...I haven't felt this way for a long time," he explained. "As a flower, I was soulless. I didn't have the ability to love anymore, or feel for them...But, now with everyone's SOULs inside me, not only do I have my own compassion back...But I can feel every other monster's, too. They all care about each other so much. And...they care about you, too. I...I wish I knew how to put it into words...Papyrus, Sans, Alphys...Even Undyne cares for you, in...sort of a weird way. And...M-mom and Dad. Them especially."

"Undyne, too, huh?"

"Yeah...Monsters are weird. Even though we all barely know you, they...They all love you so much."

He tried to keep the smile on his face. but the corners of it couldn't help but turn down when he acknowledged the horrible things he'd done over so many Resets as the soulless husk he'd been as Flowey.

"Ginger, I...I understand if you can't forgive me for the things I did. I acted so strange and horrible...I hurt you. Killed you, even. And so many other people, too. Friends, family, innocent bystanders...There's no excuse for what I've done."

"I'd go as far to say there is."

"Wh...what?"

"You had no SOUL, and you did all that...Part of me thinks you might have been finding a way to get back what you lost."

"Well...I remember I did a few times...Especially in the beginning. I woke up in the garden, and...called for my parents. Dad came. He...he was so happy to know I was back, but...I wasn't really back. I just hadn't realized it yet. Mom couldn't help, either, when I found her in the Ruins. I gave up, then, and...tried to...t-take my own...But in place of my SOUL, there was something else...DETERMINATION. The will to go on. I tried to stop myself, and...I came back, right to the point at which I woke up. That was when I discovered the power to Save and Reset."

"What'd you do, then?"

"At first, I tried to use my powers for good. Helped people, tried to fix things for them...I thought Alphys could help me, but...She didn't know how, and was too afraid to do anymore experimentation, knowing...what she'd already done. I gave up, and started experimenting with the timeline on my own. Without a SOUL, I didn't care whether they lived or died. I saved everyone...I killed everyone...I've won every game, lost every game, read every book, burned every book...I've seen every outcome. Almost every possible timeline, except...except for this one."

"That's...I can't begin to imagine that."

"Looking back on all of it, it's really crazy at how many different things could happen. There was even a timeline where Undyne ended up with SANS."

"...Wait, you mean as in-"

"Yeah, not sure what I did wrong there."

They both found themselves laughing over something so ridiculous. When it finally died down, Ginger spoke again.

"I'll be honest...If it were me, I'd have probably ended up doing all of that stuff, too...'Course I forgive you."

"Y...you do? Heh...Come on. You're..."

He blinked away some of the tears forming in the corners of his hazel eyes.

"...You're gonna make me cry again...B-besides...Even if you do forgive me, I...I can't keep all these SOULs inside of me. They aren't mine. The least I can do is return them to the people they belong to...But..."

His expression shifted again, and his gaze hardened into a confident stare.

"...Before that, there's something I have to do. Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one. Right now, with everyone's power...With the six human SOULs, and all the monster SOULs in the entire Underground...It's time for monsters to finally go free...Just like I promised you before all of this."

He stood there, for a moment, and Ginger could feel the void begin to rumble with power. She stepped back further away from the young prince, and watched in awe as he began to rise into the darkness, the six SOULs of the humans, and the hundreds of SOULs of the monsters circling around him, joining him in his final act of atonement.

And, throughout the entire plain of existence, there rang out a sound.

It was the unmistakable sound of something big and indestructible snapping in two, then crumbling to bits.

* * *

_..._

* * *

Everyone heard the sound.

The few people in the village who were awake all looked out to the northeast, in the direction of the mountain their town's name was derived from.

The animals on and around the mountain-the foxes, the raccoons, the birds, a single doe-they all turned their heads when they heard it. But they didn't run. Even they knew that something big had happened.

And, eight miles away, in a grove of pine trees, others heard it with their keen earslits, as clear as the daybreak which was yet to come.

The High Tyto looked to his queen, who had been standing right there beside him, a strange anticipation having been in both of their gizzards for quite some time.

And now what they had been waiting for had happened.

"...You don't suppose that was..."

"It was," he answered.

Everyone, man and beast, bird and bug, all creatures alike, knew what had happened.

***The Barrier was destroyed.**

* * *

_..._

* * *

The Angel descended from where he hovered, and his pawed feet planted themselves on firm ground once again.

It was done.

"Everyone's going to be free, now...Out in the sun, and the fresh air, and not stuck down here anymore," Asriel confirmed. "That's...all I ever actually wanted."

The Huntress stepped forward now.

"...Let's go join them," she said to him, reaching out a hand for him to take. "...They're all waiting for us."

But instead of taking her offer, he kept his hands to himself, and turned away slightly. He didn't want to have to tell her, and upset her all over again, but...

"I...I can't go with you."

Ginger's smile faded.

"What, well...Why not?" she asked him, not sure if she heard him right.

"I...I needed all of the SOULs of the monsters, and all the SOULs of the humans to recreate this body," he explained grimly, hanging his head. "And they're all back where they belong now. Without a SOUL of my own, I..."

"No..."

"I can't keep maintaining this form," he finally admitted. "In a little while...I'll be a flower again. I'll stop being 'myself.' I'll stop being able to feel love anymore."

"Asriel, please, no..."

She was on her knees, and on the verge of tears herself, as though begging him would do any good. This couldn't happen...Not after what he'd just done.

"...Don't be sad for me. In fact, it's best if you just...forget about me, really. Go be with the people who love you...I don't matter anymore. I'm just-"

He was cut off when the human swiftly and suddenly flung her arms around him, pulling him close.

She couldn't leave him.

It didn't take Asriel long to process this, and once he did, he returned the hug. He wasn't ready for the inevitable. He wanted to stay just a little longer.

"Ha...ha..." he almost laughed, ever so quietly, in spite of himself. "I don't want to let go..."

She held him tighter in return, and both of them remained there, silently weeping, as they did their best to comfort each other.

Asriel wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he knew what was coming. He didn't want to, but he had to leave. It wouldn't be too much longer until the powers keeping him together would fade, and he would turn back into Flowey. And he didn't want anybody to have to see that.

Reluctantly, he pushed away, but didn't turn away from Ginger just yet.

"...You're going to do a great job, okay?" he promised. "No matter what you do. Everyone's gonna be there for you."

She sniffed, wiping her own face dry. Asriel reached up to brush one of her tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"It'll be okay...I promise. You'll be okay."

There was one final embrace, but this one couldn't be long. He had to go.

"...Well...My time's running out," he told her, turning around to walk away. "...Goodbye."

"...Bye, Asriel."

He began to start on his way, into the oblivion that was the void...But he stopped and turned one more time.

"...One more thing," he said to her. "Do you think you could...take care of Mom and Dad for me? If you can? I don't know if you have to-"

"Asriel, I promise you," she answered him, rising her hand into a salute to the prince of the Underground. "I'll do everything I can for them...For you."

"...Thank you...Good luck up there, okay?"

She nodded.

"...See you later."

And with that, he began to walk off into the darkness, as any lone ranger would walk into the sunset after a job well done.

She almost wanted to follow after him, but it was then that she heard another voice calling to her.

"_Can you hear me...? We want you to wake up..._"

_Toriel..._

"This is all just a bad dream...!"

_AND Asgore..._

The void faded once again. And this time, she wouldn't be back.

* * *

_..._

* * *

It was odd. One minute she felt like she was standing, and the next, she was lying on the ground, just barely strong enough to push herself up.

Finally, Ginger mustered the strength to do so, sitting up on the dusty ground just to the north of the Throne Room and prying her eyes open.

She beheld all of her monster friends, gathered around her. She could see most of the worry fade from their gazes when they saw she was awake again.

"Oh, you are finally awake..." Toriel breathed, kneeling down to face her. "Thank goodness!"

They were all here. It was all alright.

She let slip another small grin.

"...Ha..."

"We were so worried...!"

Alphys was the next to approach, and she was met with a surprisingly strong hug from someone who'd just gotten up from a state of blackout.

"Wow...Uh, y-yeah, she's definitely fine."

"Missed you guys..."

"W-we missed you, too...It felt like you were out of it forever!"

"psh, yeah," Sans chimed in. "you made papyrus cry like a baby."

"WHAT!? I DIDN'T CRY! I DON'T CRY!" he protested. "I JUST...CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE, IS ALL."

"really...what'd you catch?"

"TEEEAAARS!"

He barely refrained from bursting out bawling again, and was earned a bit of a chuckle from the rest of the crowd.

"Now, now, everyone..." Asgore settled, kneeling beside her, holding something in his paws. "What matters now is that young Ms. Wingren is alright."

He held out what he had to her; a steaming cup of tea, from the same mug he'd given her when they met in his home.

"Here, child. Why not drink some tea? It might make you feel better."

"Errr...Why not give her some space first?" Toriel suggested instead, still a bit wary of him being around her, even after everything that had gone on between them earlier.

"No, no, I..." Ginger stammered, eyeing the piping hot beverage. "...That actually sounds pretty good right about now."

She took the cup from Asgore's paw and started working at it; there was something about the tea he brewed that made it...special. She wasn't sure what, but there was.

"Hrmm..."

She peered up from her drink and saw that Undyne was giving her a bit of a stink eye.

"I don't know why..." she almost growled, a thoughtful finger rubbing her scaly chin. "But I feel like I should be absolutely LIVID at you for some reason, right now..."

_Uh-oh...I hope she doesn't remember THAT thing I said._

"...Can't seem to remember you _doing_ anything to warrant it, though."

"It was all very strange, Ginger," Toriel continued. "We do not remember exactly what happened. There was a flower, and then...Everything just went white. And when we all got back up ourselves a bit earlier, we found that the Barrier had disappeared."

"I'm still a bit shocked by that..." Asgore admitted. "But there isn't really much we can do about it, I don't believe. Besides...If it's gone, that means we can all return to the surface world...After all this time, it...It can finally be."

"The Barrier's gone..."

Freedom. It was finally within reach.

The prophecy had been fulfilled.

"Ha...!"

She collapsed onto the floor again, much to everyone's shock and surprise.

"Uh...Y-you okay?" Alphys stammered.

"Fine...I'm just sort of relieved it's all finally over with."

"Well...If it would help, maybe you would like to take a walk? Maybe go see anyone else you might know?"

_Anyone else..._

That was when she realized.

Word had to be spread. Monsters had to know that freedom had finally come. She had to traverse the Underground one more time before she could leave.

"...That sounds like a good idea."

Finally, the human got onto her feet.

"I'll go on and do that."

"Take however long you need," Toriel said to her. "We will all be here waiting for you."

She gave them all a nod, then headed back out into the Throne Room. No light was shining down through the thin earth just above, and no birds were singing. She surmised that it was still nighttime. And when she checked the time on her phone, this was confirmed; 4:56 a.m., October 26th.

She made her way to the elevator and ordered the next ride to the CORE. It wouldn't be long now until the Underground would go empty. It wouldn't be long until she was free, alongside everyone else trapped beneath Mount Ebbot for long years. It was strange thinking that when she first fell, she hadn't given half a hoot for these monsters, her only goal to escape with her life, and then get ON with it the same way she'd been. But now, she saw the horizon of a new future ahead.

If that part of her life was indeed over, then she could start fresh with this new one she'd planted the seeds for down here.

And all the while, even after everything she'd been through, all the battles, all the hardships, all the heartbreak...

She had remained determined. And she would stay determined for as long as she lived.

* * *

**_A.N.: _"Hey, losers! Looks like stick-arms is gonna be wrappin' it up here, soon! Bet you're about ready for this trainwreck of a story to finally-"**

_**Now YOU'RE doing it!? How many more people am I gonna have to shoo out of my Author's Notes, fish breath!?**_

**"Jeez...Don't be such a stick in the mud, I'm just havin' some-"**

_**I'M GOING TO SAY THE G WORD AGAIN KANYE**_

**"Okay, fine, I won't rain on your precious parade anymore..."**

_**YEAH, BYE FELICIA...**_

_**Ugh...Thank Arcoos she's gone...**_

_**...What?**_

_**I can't be the only one here who watches Pokémon Talk.**_

_**So we're along the final stretch. I just want to take a moment to thank everyone's positive feedback. Quite a few people seemed to enjoy this, and nearing the end of the road feels so satisfying that I finally got this all done and so many people have been backing me. I appreciate it, everyone. :)**_

**"you really worked yourself down to the bone with this story, huh, kid?"**

_**NO NOT YOU TOO**_


	39. A New Horizon(OPTIONAL ENDING)

Everything was done. Everything was called for. Everyone knew.

The gates to the Ruins had been left open upon Toriel's re-emergence, so most of the monsters that used to live there were now wandering about Snowdin Forest. When Ginger came carrying the good news, some of them decided to stick around a little while longer, some leapt for joy, others went to gather their comrades and further spread the news. She thought about going in there with them to help round up the rest of the Ruins dwellers, but she ultimately decided not to; they had it under control.

Besides, she didn't want to keep her friends back in New Home waiting. Ginger had gone over every place twice; Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, the CORE, and even most of New Home knew at this point. Everything was double-checked, from the forest to the capital. Everything was accounted for.

Everything and everyone was ready for a new life above ground.

The human passed through the throne room again, paying mind to the Golden Flowers as she went through, not wanting to step on them. She couldn't help but smile when she went into the next room again to join her newfound monster friends once more.

"Uh...H-hey guys? I-It's, like, ten minutes to eight o'clock," Alphys alerted everyone, checking the time on her phone. "Ginger, you know a bit better than us, but isn't the sun going to be coming up there soon?"

"Oh, shoot, you're right. In fact, I was right on the money comin' back! It should be coming up right now!"

"Yo, what!? Oughta my way, punk, I don't wanna miss this!"

The fish monster shoved her young adversary out of the way and ran to the now empty Barrier Room.

"Hey! Someone stop her before she finds someone to impale up there!" Ginger exclaimed.

"UNDYNE! WAIT FOR ME!"

"Sans, my loyal judge, are you not excited? You seem just as lax as usual," the king mused.

"eh...i guess i'd like to see it too."

"G-guys, wait for me! I wanna see it too!"

"I STILL do not know how it is possible...It obviously was not you, Asgore, who shattered the Barrier."

"Well, who knows? Perhaps more answers will unravel as time goes on."

Ginger stepped out onto the ledge outside of the cave opening, the dormant grass crunching a bit beneath her shoes; she had done it once before, unbeknownst to all but one of her friends, but this time, they were able to join her.

They all stepped out onto the grass, and the freshness of the autumn air enveloped them all.

"WOWIE..." Papyrus marveled. "IT FEELS SO FRESH!"

"can't say i'm not impressed by this."

"Out that way," Undyne pointed out, extending an arm eastward. The sky there glowed a lighter shade of blue, and the spot where the sun would show its tip was a bright puce. "Is that where it's gonna come up from?"

"It is," Ginger replied, not caring this time to throw a sarcastic remark.

"Hey, uh...Shouldn't the sun have, uh, r-risen by now?" Alphys asked. "I-I read somewhere it rises at, like, six or something."

"Not during the fall and winter," Ginger answered. "Daylight hours are shorter this time of year."

"Oh...I-is it gonna be cold out?"

"Sorry to say it is; we might want to consider dressing warm for the time being."

"and that's the cold truth."

"SANS!"

"Alright, everybody, watch out towards the east. Here it comes."

And they all watched intently as the white tip of the sun finally showed a sliver, and then slowly rose into the air. The sky gradually faded in from a dull navy blue to a vast array of bright, warm colors streaking the sky. Reds, pinks, violets, oranges, and the sun, engulfed in bright gold.

Stunning. Absoultely stunning.

"Wow...Th-this is even better that the ones on the T.V...I mean, WAY better!"

"Happens everyday," the human confirmed. "Well...Depending on the weather, you might not always be able to SEE it."

"It's been so many years," Asgore breathed. "...But it's still just as beautiful as I remember it. Why...I could just stand here and watch it all morning."

"It is quite a sight to behold," the queen agreed. "...However, now that we're all finally free, we should really think about what comes next."

The king's eyes widened for a moment upon letting the remark settle in.

"...Yes...You're right," he realized, and then he turned to the human.

"Erm...Ms. Wingren," he addressed her. "I...know this may be a lot to ask, so I will not enforce it unless you want to, but...You are human yourself. In order to establish a peaceful relation with the others of your kind, we will need someone they can trust to speak for us. Would it interest you to act as our Ambassador to the humans?"

"Ambassador..." she echoed. To be the Ambassador for an entire race. "Ambassador of Monsterkind"...It sounded even better than being a general. What a position!

_...What a position, for someone with 5 LV,_ she realized. As wonderful as it sounded, she was NOT a trustworthy candidate for the job. The human world was far more complex than that of the owls.

"...As much as I'd like to, your majesty, I...I'm not the right type of person for that type of task. You need someone...better with people than me. I'd probably make a bad impression on them, and things would end up going downhill from there. Uh...How about him?"

She pointed up at the taller of the two skeleton brothers.

"M-ME? AMBASSADOR FOR MONSTERKIND?" he checked. King Asgore nodded.

"...WOWIE! WELL, IF HIS MAJESTY WILL ALLOW IT, I WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR MONSTERKIND HAS EVER SEEN!"

"I like your enthusiasm, Papyrus," he complimented. "I am quite sure it will help us in the future."

"I WOULD CERTAINLY SAY SO! NOW, IF YOU WILL ALL EXCUSE ME, I, THE GREAT AMBASSADOR PAPYRUS, MUST GO MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION ON THE HUMANS!"

He barreled down the mountain with his lanky legs in a flash.

"Oh...Oh, dear," Toriel mumbled. "Will he cause an issue?"

"not if i make sure of things," Sans answered. "i'll go catch up with him. later, gaters."

And he went off...back into the mountain. Asgore was perplexed by this.

"Ah, Sans, your br-"

"Let him go that way," Ginger assured him. "He's got his own way of doing things."

"I still think it's screwy! I'm going after that guy the right way! PAPYRUS, WAIT UP!" Undyne announced as she followed in her friend's footsteps.

"Guys!" Alphys almost whined as she scampered after them. "I'm n-not exactly a runner, you know!"

All of them disappeared. Only Ginger and the monarchs of monsterkind were left standing on the ledge, still admiring the skyscape.

Asgore scratched the back of his head in an awkward manner.

"Um...Should I...follow them?"

Toriel shot him an odd, somewhat contemptuous look.

"I would...prefer if you did," she told him.

"...Yes, Toriel."

He turned to leave...

But before he took his first step down the mountain, the human ran towards him and flung her arms around him, much to his surprise.

"...I'll see you later, okay?" she promised.

The king of monsters held back another flow of tears. She really DID remind him so much of...

"Oh, my dear child..." he just barely whispered, letting his tears flow freely as he knelt down on his knees and returned the embrace. "You have been a light for us to follow, and you have lead monsterkind back to the sun. Even if you are not the Ambassador...You are the still our future."

The queen's mild glare faded as she saw the sight for herself. For the longest time, she had a false image of Asgore painted in her mind, and now she knew the truth for sure. This was no merciless brute; the man she'd once known was still there, even if he'd done many a terrible thing, and even if he was broken by it.

...Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to fix him.

The king finally stood back up, and with one more wave, descended down the mountain and into the forest below. Before disappearing, he looked back one last time at the two people he loved the most.

To his surprise, Toriel was smiling down at him, just a bit, and to an even greater deal of shock, actually WAVED BACK.

The content grin he wore grew ever so slightly bigger, and he nodded before disappearing into the red and gold trees.

"...It seems as though everyone is eager to set off, no?"

"I'd say so. I don't think I've ever seen Papyrus so happy."

"That is a surprise. He is almost ALWAYS in a good mood, so Sans often claims."

"Heh..."

"...So, Ginger...You came from up here on the surface, did you not?"

"...Yes. Yes, I did."

"And your group...you said, when you were in the Ruins, that they were missing you. So...you must have a place to return to, do you not?"

_A place to return to..._

She had decided long ago that returning to the Tytonic Union was no longer an option. They'd long since left, for sure, and even if they hadn't, she couldn't show up to them like this. She was no longer an owl, and she wasn't going to be turning back into one, for certain. Her life as a Pure One was over. What would she do if she stayed behind? Camp out in the wilderness again and live off nothing but deer for the rest of her days? Ginger didn't think so. Not when she had a better choice.

...As well as a promise to withhold.

"...No. I don't have anywhere to go. I...I can't return to the life I had before, with the Pure Ones. I can't explain why, but...I can't go back to them. They've all probably left by now, anyway. Besides...I...I made a promise to someone. I promised him that I'd...take care of you guys for him. If...If it's not too much trouble, Toriel, I...I..."

"Dear, are you-"

Now it was the queen's turn to be tackled into a hug.

"...Quite alright?"

"I...I want to say with you. With everyone."

"...Ha..."

Toriel returned the gesture. This was a starkly different person from the one that'd first fell down.

A very good kind of different.

"...Ginger...You really are a funny child," she remarked, looking down at her, somewhat amused. "If you had said that earlier, I do not believe any of this would have happened the way it did. Not now, at least...It is a good thing you took so long to change your mind, is it not?"

"It is. It really, really is..."

"Well...I suppose, if you really have no other place to go, then...I will do my best to take good care of you for as long as you need. Would you like that?"

"Why are you guys so good to me, huh?" the human sniffed.

"Dry away the tears, child. Everything is all alright now..."

"I know. I...I just love all you guys so much...Heh...Y-you know, I...I always thought I was this rock that people could count on, and cling to for safety. But I guess...I guess sometimes, rocks need other, bigger rocks to lean on when they fall, am I right?"

"It seems as though we have all learned a little something from this, have we not?"

"Yeah..."

She wiped her face on her arm. before pulling away. Toriel extended an arm for her to take, and she gladly complied.

"Come along now," she prompted. "Everyone is waiting for us!"

Slowly, they descended down the mountain.

"Everyone did learn something from this whole shebang..." Ginger agreed. "...Even fish-face."

"Oh...You two do not seem very fond of each other, I must admit."

"We've got a lotta bad history for people who have only known each other a handful of days. We have this weird...love/hate relationship. As in, we love to hate each other."

"Just do not have an all-out war with each other every other hour, alright?" Toriel joked...slightly. "We would not want a repeat on a much greater scale again."

"We negotiated a Cold War pact; we'll only go for each others' throats when there's no one else around to see it."

"The throats!"

"Just a figure of speech, I promise! Not really gonna do that. Besides, even if she tried that for real, she wouldn't be able to. I've gone head-to-head against that one. No holding back. When everything was said and done, I had nary a scratch on me."

"And to think I was so worried. I like your sense of independence; I am quite sure it will take you far."

"It already has, some...But I've still got a long road of life ahead. A lot of things are gonna get me where I need to be. Including you guys."

"...I am glad to know you think so."

* * *

_..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...My Lord. The two new recruits you wanted me to show you."

"From the Academy?"

"Correct, indeed."

"Excellent. Let me see them."

They were both Tytos, one Masked and the other Sooty; they were roughly the same age, and had known each other from when they first met at the St. Aegolius Academy as orphaned owlets, having become like siblings to one another, so it was said. They cowered some at the image of the High Tyto's massive size paired with his imposing mask, but the light-hearted churr that followed gave them both some reassurance.

"Your names, young ones?"

"...Nutbeam, sir," the Masked Owl answered him. "And this is Silver, my brother."

"It's a pleasure, your Pureness, sir, to finally meet you in the flesh."

The Sooty Owl seemed less frightened by him and more in awe.

"Silver here is a pretty big fan of you, I'd say," Nyra told her mate. "Not half bad in the air, in case you wanted future reference."

"Interesting...Well, you two, before you begin taking the courses, I feel it wise for you all to become acquainted with our other trainees. Er, Valdimore. Would you take these two young Tytos to the hollow where the rest of their fellow youth assemble?"

"Yes, your Pureness," the Eagle Owl saluted before guiding the two newly fledged owls to said hollow.

"...That Silver boy," he commented. "I like the look in his eye. Seems like a good candidate for a lead position."

"You don't suppose he could be the next leader of..."

"Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I do."

"...Hm. Well, whatever you saw in him, it must have been VERY good."

"I suspect he and Vaygar will get along quite well."

"And what of Nutbeam?"

"Hm...Soft-spoken. Not as much of a fighter. Perhaps we could recommend the healing arts to him?"

"I like that idea."

"...How's Kludd fairing?" Metal Beak asked on a whim. "I know it's been a while since...that. But I haven't seen any odd behavior from him. I'm not sure whether to think of this as good or unsettling. What's he been up to as of late?"

"Good. Very good, I'd even say. He appears to have been spending more time with Uklah, I've noticed. I do believe he's moved on quite nicely."

"Oh. Well...I should think of it as good, then, it seems. Everyone is healing, everyone is hoping. Good, good..."

"I sometimes wonder what she's done with herself. As far as we know, she's still..."

"Under that strange spell? Yes, I know. What made my mind go on a tangent is how she may have reacted to certain things as a human."

"One trapped Underground, as well, it seems. With a load of...monsters. Do you think she's even still alive down there?"

"Oh, yes. If something happened, I'd have sensed it long ago."

"Your Pureness!"

A voice came from above, and he saw a figure coming down from the cave opening; a Bald Eagle, it turned out to be. More specifically, a messenger he'd assigned. And he was carrying what appeared to be a bunched-up bundle of papers in his bright yellow talons.

"Messenger Sam," he greeted. "Back from the mainland so soon?"

"Yes. I have extraordinary news. News that I believe you will...Joss. Joss!"

Another silhouette descended from above. A much smaller bird, yellow, with a bright orange beak and talons. A finch of some sort, it appeared to be. He spiraled down and landed gracefully next to the comparatively immense eagle, holding something in his own claws.

"Your Majesties," Sam told them. "This is Joss. And he's a fellow messenger from the mainland."

"Messenger...Joss?" Nyra echoed. "...How coincidental."

"Hello," the little bird piped up. "Are you...Nyra and Metal Beak?"

"We are," the latter affirmed. "What news do you bring?"

"I think it wise to give you mine first, your Majesties," Sam told them. "His package will make more sense, then, so he says."

"Well, let's see what you've got there, Sam."

The eagle pushed the bundle towards the monarchs' feet.

"It's a newspaper I snatched. Take a look at the headlines."

"Let's see here, now..." the old Sooty Owl mumbled as he unfurled the paper and read the big, bold letters on the front.

"**BREAKING:**

**MONSTER MYTHS TURN OUT TO BE TRUE  
THOUSAND-YEAR BARRIER DESTROYED  
FORGOTTEN RACE EMERGES WITH HUMAN  
A NEW ERA OF MAGIC ON THE RISE?**"**  
**

"...What...?"

"With human..." Nyra awed. "That must be-"

"You get the basic idea, don't you?" Sam interrupted him.

"...Yes. We very well do."

"Then, I think it time you see what Joss has brought you."

"Here. I was sent by someone very special," the bird tweeted.

It was a folded envelope, specifically addressed to Ablah General Nyra and High Tyto Metal Beak. The king of the Pure Ones slid his claw across the packaging, then pulled out the letter and unfurled it. As his mate scanned the text along with him from behind, he read the writing aloud.

"_To whom it may concern at this point:_

_I'm still very much alive. But for reasons you may already know, I am unable  
to resume my duties as a member of the Tytonic Union, and have, under the  
many strange circumstances that I have come to face, retired from the force.  
If you ever wonder where I am, or how I fare, rest assured that I am in the  
hands of good people, and I see peace and prosperity in the near future for  
my new comrades and I.  
However, despite my new life among man and monster, I shall never forget  
my days spent with the Pure Ones, and I shall never resent them. I learned a  
great deal among you, and it is that knowledge, paired with the knowledge I  
gained while in the mountain, that helped to carry me to where I am now.  
I thank you, the High Tyto, for being an inspiration to me. I thank you, Nyra,  
for being my teacher and guardian. I thank the squadron leaders for being  
examples to me. And I thank my four former Pure Ones-in-training for their  
companionship and friendship. Phillip, keep listening. Vaygar, keep spreading  
your wisdom. Uklah, keep smiling for everyone. Kludd, never stop fighting  
for the good of the Union. I want you to find someone as good as I was, and  
I hope you are all happy, safe and healthy, no matter what happens.  
_

_I don't think I will see any of you ever again. It is unwise to try to maintain  
something like this, now that I am no longer the Tyto Alba you once knew  
me as. But you will always live on in my memory for as long as I live._

_Wishing everyone down there the best of luck. I love all of you._

_Best regards and final salutations,_

_General Ginger Wingren Dreemurr_"

By the time they'd both finished reading the letter, they were both nearly in tears.

"Y-your Majesties?" Joss twittered. "Erm...Did you see what else was in there?"

"What...? Something else?" Nyra asked, just to be sure. Joss pointed down at the envelope; there, sticking just out of the opening, was the corner of another, smaller paper.

Using the tips of her claws, Nyra pulled it out. Metal Beak peered over her wing and looked over the writing on it as she read aloud.

"_I thought I might send you a photo of  
me and my new friends, just so you  
know for SURE that I'm in good hands.  
_

_Except for the ugly-as-sprink fish woman.  
I don't like her. She can go to hagsmire  
and get served up with a side of coleslaw.  
Ha ha..._"

Nyra curiously flipped it over.

And there was indeed a sepia tone photo on the other side.

There was a young human-that had to be Ginger; it looked exactly like a human incarnation of her-two large, white monsters that looked something akin to mountain goats, one male and one female it seemed, judging by the horns and faces, two reanimated human skeletons, one much taller than the other, a sharp-toothed, humanoid monster with fins, gills and a missing eye, and a small, stout yellow dinosaurian creature in a lab coat and spectacles.

...They were all smiling.

And so were the two owls.

"...Whatever she's up to now," the High Tyto remarked. "...All I hope is that she's happy."

* * *

_..._

* * *

It took time, patience, and a bit of negotiation, but it wasn't long until monsters were integrated into human society. Within only months, they spread several score miles from their small home base in the North Georgia Mountains across the region, and with the more than welcome news of their natural benevolence spreading like wildfire, the modern humans found that, for the most part, they had little to fear from them, even from those with the sharpest claws and the ugliest fangs. Not being the Ambassador, Ginger instead served as somewhat of an example of a human raised among the monsters. The humans were surprised, and a wee bit suspicious, to find that there were no records of any 'Ginger Wingren' anywhere, but she covered herself up fairly well during the interviews.

"So my monster family says, I was abandoned shortly after birth; almost like I was just tossed down the hole like any other waste. Toriel just sorta...looked up from her gardening and saw me coming down towards the flowerbed one day in the Ruins. Lucky she was there to catch me; otherwise I wouldn't be standing here today."

All other questions from the human reporters and interviewers that followed thankfully could be given more honest answers, much to everyone's pleasure. A little twist here, a little white lie there. Nothing major, nothing worrisome. As long as it had SOME form of truth behind it.

As for the matter of the human SOULs Asgore had accumulated overtime, Ginger stepped in with the claim that the other humans that fell through had not survived the three -and-a half hundred foot fall though the mountain, and that she had been a special case, having been caught before she hit the ground and saved via the powers of monster magic; an odd story, but it worked, nonetheless. And the concern that the children's bodies might be found was also ultimately quelled; Captain Undyne made the decision to have the coffins destroyed beforehand, as well as the plaques in Waterfall and any and all other inanimate entities that told their dark story. To everyone's surprise, when the coffins were taken to be disposed of on the sly, it was discovered that the remains of the six humans that'd been resting in their caskets had...simply vanished.

Good for monsterkind, but still very mysterious. Some even speculated(and even hoped) that, perhaps, the humans had been revived by whatever caused the Barrier to open, and had all been taken back home.

And, come to think of it, what could the humans DO about it if they DID find out? It had technically been on Asgore's land that the six humans were slain. It was HIS country. Not theirs. It was a country within a country. What he did on his turf was not up to the judgement of the foreigners, most monsters agreed.

As for adapting to human society, it was actually not as difficult as first fathomed; everything was fairly similar to how it'd been below ground, save for the new day-night cycle and a few other, small environmental things. With the sun now in the picture, most monsters found themselves having to stick to a more regimented schedule.

Papyrus discovered fairly early on that spaghetti was indeed popular on the surface. After a few more self-improvements to his dishes(and some additional advice from Ginger, unknown to Undyne) it wasn't long before he started dishing out some of the best pasta the surface world had ever tasted. And being the Ambassador for monsters only added to his growing popularity as a chef.

Sans was...the same as always, for a while. But over time, people started noticing him being more...productive? Papyrus was the first to point out the fact that he'd set up another one of his illegal hot dog stands up on the surface(albeit he had gotten legal permission this time around to do so) and that paired with his new stand-up routine at Grillby's surface location got him not only some decent earnings, but also a bit of due respect.

Undyne had somewhat of an existential crisis upon finding out that the humans did not have a "royal guard" to join. The closest thing to that was a spot in the military, which was not only hard to get in, but it involved war with other nations as well, and it was decided that it was NOT a good idea for a monster of her caliber to get into any armies any time soon. So, after much internal(and external) debate, she finally settled on law enforcement as a career.

It wasn't hard for Alphys to find work at any of the labs on the surface. She ended up being a lot of things; chemist, programmer, and a few more. But all in all, she remained a scientist, and she was good at what she did.

Asgore ended up stepping down from his throne as king, seeing that monsters could simply follow under the humans' similar laws. Instead, he pursued his passion in botany, and became locally renowned for his expertise on gardening and landscaping.

Toriel finally found her place in the education department, and was one of the best teachers any school could ask for. Of course, Ginger ended up being her star student...both a blessing and a curse. The praise she received for her academic achievements were balanced out by the envious mocking of other pupils. But after one pushed attempt to irk her ended with the provoker losing a good chunk of head hair(Toriel was surprised by this, as well as somewhat off-put, despite the counter attack being fairly than justified) it was decided by the entire school that getting on Ginger's nerves was an arrogant and foolish thing to do.

Despite her success in school, Ginger's natural thirst for action could not be quenched. After several recommendations to put her in martial arts, Toriel finally decided to give it a try, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that her fostered human child was learning far more there than just how to put up a fight. Even so, that was the human's favorite part of the whole ordeal, and she honed her skills until they were nearly as sharp as an arrow tip.

And the tournaments were the best. Things. EVER.

What made things even better was when Asgore found himself a place as groundskeeper of the aforementioned school; Ginger oftentimes saw that he and Toriel had frequent run-ins, and to her relief, they were quite civil, and gradually grew warmer from there. It took many months, many long conversations, and a lot of trust and worry from both ends(as well as what amounted to at least three whole pies and four gallons of tea by the end of summer) but in good time, the two Boss Monsters found themselves able to put the past aside to look to the future.

Their future. Together. As a family again.

Frankly, Ginger was thrilled at their announcement that they would be patching things up. It was the best news she received the entirety of that year.

But with the good, there was always the rub.

It had been more than great hearing about her foster parents getting back together, but when Asgore broke it to her that Alphys and Undyne were doing the same, "tying the knot," so to speak, the tea she was drinking at that moment came right back out through her nose.

"O-oh, dear, are you quite alright?" Asgore had asked her at the sight of it.

He got a verbal response after a few moments of her coughing and spluttering.

"..._WHAT!?_"

That hadn't been the reaction he expected...or wanted, frankly.

Despite her new life among humans and monsters, there were some beliefs that she still held fast onto from her days with the Pure Ones, and it didn't look like she was going to change her mind about them anytime soon. It took yet another long conversation, but Ginger was finally at least convinced to attend the ceremony WITHOUT crashing it.

Oh, well...Her old man Mr. Wingren would have at least appreciated the thought(as well as find it hilarious.)

But it went alright. Aside from shooting the bridegroom a few suspicious grins every so often(which successfully made the fish monster paranoid of a wedding crash that would never happen) everything turned out fine.

On the plus side, Ginger decided, they were happy. Alphys was happy. Undyne was happy. Everything was still warm, fuzzy and lighthearted. It was...It...

_Nope, I still think it's gross..._

She and Undyne never stopped their feuding. They had developed a fearsome archrivalry, each passionate about trying to drag the other down as best they could. In the presence of the rest of the group, they were chummy at best and dissociative at worst, but behind closed doors, the insults, threats, burns and challenges raged like a bonfire. It was a rare occasion, but in particularly heated debates, they even drew their old weapons, the bow and the spear respectively, and took to good old-fashioned outdoor combat. It was tense, frightening, and glorious.

"Ha! Gotcha that time!" Undyne hollered one day after finally grazing the human with a thrown spear.

"You're a worthy opponent," Ginger retorted, still holding her arm where the spear had skidded over. "Worthy of an arrow to the knee!"

The former captain swiftly moved to the side before the arrow could strike her in the leg.

"That maneuver again!? You're a hundred percent old-school!"

"At least I could keep my books in one piece!"

Neither of them ever admitted to each other how much they loved doing that.

Despite the clashes with Undyne, Ginger never stopped being good friends with Alphys. The raptor monster became her pop-culture sensei, and unraveled the world of human movies, music, literature and other entertainment to her awing eyes. She even tried to get her into anime one night...Though it didn't go quite as Alphys had planned.

"THAT'S your favorite anime? C-come on; the Pokémon anime is low-tier. The games are better."

"But it's hilarious! And that one kid is absolutely savage! Why couldn't _I_ have had a brother like him!?"

"Y-you have, uh...Some uncommon taste, I gotta admit. It makes it interesting, a-at least."

"Are there any anime where people get eaten by dinosaurs? I'd probably watch that."

"Erm...I-it's not anime, but it's from the same country. You might like, uh...K-kaiju movies?"

"Hmm...I'll try it, but first, check out the DVD I got the other day. It's the latest installment!"

"What's...Oh. O-oh, no, you're not gonna make me watch this are you?"

"Chill. People say it's not as gory as _JP3_. I haven't seen it yet, so what's say we give it a go?"

"W-well...Ah...Y-you know what? Okay. Sure! Maybe this one will be better."

As much as Alphys tried to get her into the new and fresh, Ginger almost always opted for "well-aged media" instead. As such, the _Jurassic Park _series solidified itself as the human's all-time favorite movie saga the instant she saw the first one(although the third installment always remained her personal favorite, much to the dismay of fellow humans.) And it seemed fitting to watch such movies with Alphys, for obvious reasons. They both expected at least a little bit of a bloodbath(one hoping for it and the other fearing it) but eventually found out that the goriest part of _Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom _was actually the operating sequence on Ginger's favorite character. Even the scene where the one guy's arm was ripped clean off didn't show much blood.

And the film was unexpectedly emotional; the human had her little dinosaur friend snuggled right up to her whenever the tear-inducing flashbacks of the baby raptors came on, knowing that Charlie, Delta and Echo had all died in the previous film, and by the final act, especially after Blue's final farewell, they'd both melted into a huddled mess of blankets, tissues and tears.

"That...Was a-actually pretty good," Alphys admitted as the credits rolled, still drying her eyes from underneath her glasses.

"Do me a favor Al, and don't ever fight a hybrid abomination."

Life was good; it had its ups and downs, but nothing was ever too much for anyone. Humans and monsters came to coexist very well, and Ginger was glad of it. What used to bother her had faded into the farthest reaches of her mind; she rarely longed for the days of the Tytonic Union, despite never forgetting them. She almost never missed her ability to fly, not even thinking about that old JETPACK setting on her phone anymore. She never scorned her new life as a human. She only looked up.

It was the only direction she could go in.

* * *

_._

* * *

_**ONE YEAR LATER**_

* * *

_._

* * *

Ginger lay awake in bed; she couldn't sleep for some reason. Her eye darted this way and that, looking for something to focus on in the darkness, hoping that maybe if she concentrated on something long enough, she would finally be put to sleep by boredom. But to no avail.

She sighed heavily, knowing that since she was alone, she would have no one to pass the time with.

She didn't know she was wrong.

"Howzit?"

The phantom voice came out of nowhere. She sprang upward and looked around, but saw nothing but darkness shrouding the room. Not even the moon provided light; even if the skies weren't as cloudy as they were, a new moon could not even illuminate the sky.

"...Who's there?"

"Maybe turn the light on?" the voice suggested; it sounded female, and...slightly familiar. "Just do me a favor and don't freak out when you see me."

Ginger reached around her night table with a shaky hand until it found the lamp. She flicked it on, and the room was washed in a soft, yellow light, now showing what was in the mirror across from her bed on the opposite wall of the room.

There, sitting next to her in the reflection, was what looked to be another human. Smaller than her, bob, brunette locks, a somewhat bored expression in her deep red eyes.

And she was wearing a familiar-looking green and yellow striped shirt.

"Can't sleep, huh?"

Ginger's eyes widened. She knew who this human was.

"...You," she uttered. "...You're...You're the first-"

"Yeah, you get the idea. Don't wear it out, okay, Ging'?"

"...Chara...But aren't you...like...dead?"

"Yes."

"But then..."

It was then that she noticed that the figure was actually mildly transparent.

"Oh, no. You're a ghost, aren't you? You're here to haunt me because you're jealous, aren't you!?" she panicked in a hoarse whisper.

"Calm your nerves. I'm not gonna haunt you. Unless you want me to, that is."

"...Then what _do_ you want?"

"Well, I guess you could say that I...just wanted to thank you, I guess," the spirit told her. "If it hadn't been for you, then...well...Heh...Everyone'd still be stuck in that hole."

"...Really?"

She looked up at the spot where she'd seen Chara in the mirror. She was in the real world view as well, and she effortlessly hovered to the other side of the bed to face her.

"I don't think it'd happened as well as it did if another human fell through. And...I was sorta bitter to you guys for pretty stupid reasons, I guess. The humans in that village back before I fell through...Looking back, not all of them were rotten, no-good hellspawns...But some of them were. Especially the ones that were supposed to be my...*_**ahem**_*… 'family.' That was why I hated them so much. That was what drove me to Mt. Ebott. That was what made me hatch up that little scheme I had, and...That was what got my brother killed. And now look what he's become."

"...Do you think there might still be a way to bring him back?"

"Not without killing any more humans. Not one that I know of."

"...Well...We got it to happen one way. Maybe there's another? Who knows? We just haven't found it yet, maybe."

"Don't hold onto your hopes too much. It'll get to your head, if you do."

"Heh..."

"...So. How'd the Taekwondo tournament go today?"

"Uh, how do you THINK?"

Chara snickered a little; the bandage over her eye was all the answer she needed.

"I happened to be watchin'. Congrats on the win; you really creamed that guy."

"Yeah...I think he came out with more psychological damage than physical. I could practically SMELL his terror."

"Ha! Ha...How's your eye?"

Ginger ran a finger over the bandaging covering her left eye.

"Hairline fracture in the socket; aches a little, and I gotta keep this thing on it, but it should be fine within a month. My only concern is that I'll run into Undyne at some point before then. If she sees me like this, she won't ever let me hear the end of it."

"Well, at least you still HAVE that eye. You can come back at her with that, prob'ly."

"Heh...Yeah. You're right..."

"...Did you know Snowdrake came to the tournament?"

"WHAT!?"

"HA! I knew it!" Chara exclaimed. "You're TOTALLY eyeing him up!"

"Uh...Well...I guess I sorta have a thing for handsome birds," Ginger admitted. "He's a cool dude. Pun intended. I dunno, I might have a chance with him one of these days. I guess we'll have to see what happens, am I right?"

"Well, good luck. If you actually manage to snag him, you'll be in for a lifetime of bad ice puns."

"I can live with that."

"Hey, if you can handle Sans, I guess you have a point, huh?"

"Yep. Heh...heh...Ah...I have a question."

"What's up?"

"How long have you been...uh...here? With me? I mean, I didn't know about you until now, but I'm pretty sure you didn't just show up."

"Ever since you fell down the mountain, actually. But I didn't wanna talk to you, since I was still kind of iffy about humans, and, ah...I guess I didn't wanna freak you out anymore than you already were. I've sorta been tagging along behind the scenes. I analyzed you a lot; took notes, tried to predict you...got scared of you. Related to you sometimes...You and I have a lot in common, actually."

"...Weird question."

"What?"

"What if Asriel had YOUR SOUL?"

"Uh...I'm not sure if that'll work. See, when we died, our SOUL...split. And it messed mine up a lot. You could say that my SOUL isn't entirely whole anymore."

"Don't you have an afterlife to go to, or anything like that?"

"...When I've finished my business, I probably can."

"And what's your business?"

"Well...Making sure this family stays together...unlike the last one...that I failed. If I can do that, then I should be able to move on."

"...I'll help you in any way I can."

"No, no. It's the other way around now. This is your family; not mine. I blew it. You earned it. Also, I'm dead, so I don't really have much say in it."

"You could always haunt my nightmares if I ever do anything to get on your nerves," Ginger teased.

"...Heh...You ain't bad for a human."

"So...Chums?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not."

"Cool...Um...Should I tell them? About you?"

"Who?"

"You know...Them. Our parent-"

"Oh. Uh...Not yet. I don't know _how_ they might react."

"Then, when?"

"...Maybe never."

"...Hm..."

"I'll let you know if I change my mind, 'kay?"

"Fair enough."

"...Do you hear something?" the ghostly child noted.

It was very faint, but they could hear the sound of padded footsteps coming up the stairs and approaching her room.

"Oh, shoot, it's Mom and Dad," Ginger rasped. "Do you think they heard us?"

"You, maybe, but not me. Hurry, pretend to be asleep!"

Chara faded out of view, and Ginger swiftly snapped the lamp off and pulled the covers back over her head...

Just as her bedroom door opened.

Toriel entered the room, a small platter of butterscotch-cinnamon pie in hand and a smile on her face. She placed it on the floor in plain view, then quietly began to step back out. Asgore watched the heartwarming scene from outside, and his wife carefully shut the door again. They both looked at each other.

"...I never thought it'd be anything like this again," Asgore breathed.

"Neither did I...I suppose time does heal all wounds. And I'm...very glad the three of us are together."

"Three and a half," Asgore winked.

The smile faded from Toriel's face.

"...Something wrong?"

"...How do you think she will take the news?"

"Well, if you're worried, I can say this: I highly doubt she'll have the same reaction as when I told her about Alphys and Undyne."

"I hope so; these are two very different things," she agreed, managing a bit of a laugh at the memory of Ginger's Golden Flower tea spurting right out of her nostrils. "The thing is...Well...She has been somewhat more open to me about her past as of late, and she says that the main reason she left her old home in the first place was because her younger brother was...Well, to sugarcoat it, too big a handful. And it lead to a new array of problems there for her. I do not want that to happen to her again."

"Don't you worry about it, Tori. Knowing how things turned out...erm...with the last one, the chances of them being any more than we can handle are close to zero."

"Ha...I should hope, should I not?"

"Hope and dream. Hold onto our hopes and dreams for the future. That is what got us this far, isn't it?"

"...It is."

"We'll tell her the day after tomorrow, alright? Saturday; low-stress. After lunch, I believe would be the best time."

"That sounds like a very good idea."

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The sound of footsteps growing more distant gave the clear.

"...You didn't happen to hear any of that right, did you?" Ginger asked her spectral companion. "They were too quiet for me to make out the words."

"Oh, I gotcha covered on that."

"So...What'd they say? Did they know I was awake?"

"No, they didn't. They were just talking about...familial matters, is all. You're not in trouble."

"...You're being suspiciously vague."

"I don't wanna SPOIL the surprise. Heh heh heh..." Chara sniggered. "But it's good, I promise."

"Well...I guess that's reassuring," the living human finally said.

"...You know...Just throwin' this out there, but...You know you still have the power to **Save **and **Reset**, right?"

"Wh...R-really?...!"

"Just thought I'd let you know. Just in case. Your thoughts?"

"I...I dunno, Chara. We've come this far. I mean, life's not always gonna be perfect, am I right? Everyone's gotta live with somethin' they don't like. You can't hold onto grudges or regrets or stuff like that forever, can you? Doesn't sound like a good time to me. And besides...I don't wanna screw any of this up somehow."

"...You have a lot of good points there...But just in case something REALLY bad happens, that's always an option, okay? You might have to start over from the Barrier Room again, but it's better than...I dunno, being orphaned, or Alphys gettin' burned alive by a flaming grill, or something like that, for a couple examples."

"...I see what you did there and I don't like the image you just put in my brain."

"What? Of Alphys getting...'Delta-Ruined'?"

"Did...Did you just make a pun?"

"Eyyyup."

"I'm gonna like having you hanging around...As long as you don't make me imagine gruesome stuff like that all the time."

"I'll curb my impulses...Well...It's, like, fifteen minutes to midnight. Tired yet?"

"Yeah...That worked...Thanks for that."

"See ya later."

Chara faded from view again with a wave. Ginger was finally washed over with the urge to sleep, and settled back down, taking note of the pie slice left on the floor.

She could still **Save** and **Reset?** She never would have guessed.

But, having come so far, she didn't want to tear everything that everyone had worked so hard to earn away from them all again.

She fell asleep, hoping that she would never have to use those powers again...

...

...And she never did.

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_**A Pure One Underground**_

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_by Ginger the Barn Owl_

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THE END

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...That is...

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_**...If you so choose.**_

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**That's right, readers.**

**This story has not one, but TWO possible endings.**

**If you want, THIS can be the ending to the story. Everything is wrapped up and done with. And in that case, thanks a million for reading. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. :D**

**But if you're not satisfied with this ending...if you feel like there's more that could have happened beneath the surface, you can stay tuned...**

**For the TRUE ENDING.**

_(NOTE: I call it the True Ending because it's my personal choice between the two endings as author, but like I said, if you want, this can be the "True Ending.")_

**So, what's your choice?**

**Will Ginger live happily among humans and monsters?**

**...Or is there STILL something else that can happen?**

**Stay tuned to find out! ;)**


	40. Chapter 37: One Last SOUL to SAVE

The Froggits seemed all too thrilled about the freedom that awaited them, and they were quick to flee the Ruins.

Ginger descended the stairs, and a wave of nostalgia washed over her. Even though she had technically only left this place a week ago, the sense of time having passed from her last Save made it seem like that much longer. Even still, from her perspective, it had only been several months, yet she felt like she was seeing the Ruins for the first time in many long years.

And then it dawned on her that, perhaps, this would be the last time she would ever see this place. Now that everyone was free to establish new lives on the surface, nobody would be coming back for it; it was sad, in a way, just like the old tree that grew outside of Toriel's old house. Those were to be left behind as well.

Up ahead was the little cavern she'd first found herself in. Nobody was probably going to be in there, but it wouldn't hurt to check, just to make sure no one got left behind during the departure.

Besides, she thought she might pay the little space below the hole in the earth a visit for old times sake, even if those times weren't all that old.

She passed the little patch of earth, and the bitter memory of her first encounter with Flowey came to mind. She hated him back then, but now it was hard not to want to find him, and to beg him to come back with her, just so he could spend his days in the sun instead of alone in the stuffy Underground.

After all, that was all Flow-no-_Asriel_ had really wanted for everyone.

And she saw the very faint, soft light of the moon coming down from above, onto the patch of Golden Flowers and...

Her eyes widened, and she rubbed them to make sure they weren't deceiving her. When it turned out that they weren't, they grew even wider.

Was that...

Him?

It was a stark image of the deceased prince, who had only an hour or so ago sacrificed everything to save everyone. He was on his hands and knees, with his back facing her, carefully tending to the flowerbed.

"...Asriel?"

Ginger was so shocked, she almost breathed his name.

But the young Boss Monster still heard it, and he raised his head, then turned to face the human.

"G-ginger?" he stuttered. "What are you doing here? How'd you find me!?"

"I...wasn't trying to. I just decided to come here and see this place one last time, but...I wasn't expecting this."

She was in awe; he was still here.

"I thought you were..."

Asriel turned away again.

"Not yet. But...it won't be long now."

He plastered a fake smile on his face, then spoke in as cheery a voice as he could manage.

"I'll be okay down here. I promise. After all, someone needs to take care of the flowers."

"Are you sure you don't want to come up to the surface with us once you...? You know..." she questioned. There was no way she could empathize with what he was going through, but she at least had to try. "The sun really does feel wonderful."

"I can't go with you guys. I...I don't want to break their hearts all over again. It's better if they never see me. You go on ahead."

"...Asriel, I...I'm not going to leave you alone. You need someone, even if it's just for a little while..."

She sat down beside him, and the caprine monster did the same.

"Heh...Hey. Mind if I ask you something?" he piped up.

"Yeah?"

"Why exactly did you climb the mountain?"

"Well...not exactly climb. More like 'flew over to the opening to see what might be there.' I guess my curiosity got the better of me, though; ended up falling in."

"But didn't you hear of the legend? 'Travellers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear."

"I did hear of it...but I didn't really believe it. But now that I'm here, and experienced this place for myself, and even lived to tell the tale, I'm actually kinda glad I did."

"Hm...I know why Chara climbed the mountain."

"Why did she?"

"It...wasn't for a very happy reason."

"You mean..."

"Ginger...I'm going to be honest with you. Chara hated humanity. But whenever we asked about it, she never told us why. One thing's for sure, though; she felt very strongly about that."

"Man...I'm sorry, Asriel, that...that must have been rough."

"You know something...you're really different from Chara, Ginger. Even if you two have kinda similar, uh...fashion choices...I don't know why I ever acted like you were the same person. I don't know why I did...a lot of the things I did, now that I have some sense knocked back into me."

Ginger didn't say anything, rather rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe, the truth is...Chara...I loved her. We all did, but...she wasn't really the nicest person. But you? You're the type of friend I wish I always had. So maybe I was kinda, you know...projecting a little bit."

"Aw...Come on. I'm not that good a person."

"You say that, but I've seen almost everything since the beginning. I followed you as Flowey, just to see what you might do. You stayed with mom and gave her company for a little while, you gave Papyrus a new friend, you saved Alphys from jumping into the abyss, you spared Dad when you could have taken his soul to leave, you...you got rid of Flowey back in the last timeline...so he didn't hurt anymore people..."

"Asriel...none of that was your fault. The things you did as Flowey weren't your fault, and if I'd known who it really was back then, I...I never would have done what I did to you. Besides, like I said earlier, if I had no SOUL and nothing good to live for, I...would have done the same things eventually. And you and I both know this, since you and Sans could see other people's LOVE; in this timeline, your hands are cleaner than mine when it comes to violence, even if I didn't show it as much down here."

"B-but I...I pretty much killed everyone in the Underground when I absorbed all their SOULs."

"Maybe, but they were brought back..."

Ginger didn't care about secrecy anymore. She had to come clean with her origins. If there was one person she could tell...

"I've killed birds. A lot of birds for someone my age; my LV's at a good 5, you know that. It was that way when I first came down here. Even if it hasn't increased since my fall, and even if I was doing it to serve my people, I've still killed. And unlike your case, not all of the blood can be washed off my hands."

The prince seemed a bit perplexed.

"...Birds?"

"Asriel...I'm going to tell you something you might not believe. Before I came down here, I...wasn't what you see right now."

"What do you mean? You mean that being down here changed you?"

"Yeah, but...not in the way you're thinking. It didn't just change me inside, it changed my physically. I...I wasn't always a human, Asriel."

"...You weren't?"

"No. Before I came here, I was...well...a Barn Owl. Do you know what those are?"

"...My parents used to have a few books on surface wildlife...Aren't they the birds with the big, white faces shaped like hearts?"

"Yeah! Those. I, ah...was one of them. And my work force...The Tytonic Union of Pure Ones. They were mostly owls, too. Even the organization's name is derived from our species; Tytos, owls of the heart-shaped face. And we can all speak, just like you and the humans can. But we can never let anyone find out about that. Our civilization would never be the same."

"...Wow."

"You don't believe me, do you? It's alright; I didn't think you would anyway. I just had to get it off my chest."

"No, no. I do believe you, Ginger."

"Wait...you do?"

"Yeah."

"Why? I can't even prove anything here."

"I...can see it in your eyes. You're not lying. And you wouldn't lie about something like this, I know it."

Ginger smiled. She never thought anyone would understand, but he of all people did.

"Um...there's still one more thing I feel like I need to tell you about, Ginger, just to get it off _my_ chest."

"Yeah?"

"When...when Chara and I combined our SOULs together, the control over the body was actually split between us. She was the one who picked up her own body. She was the one who carried it into the village. And she...she was the one who wanted us to...use our power against the humans. I was the one that resisted. I was the one that backed down. And...b-because of me, we..."

The young Boss Monster was on the verge of tears; no-one should have to recite the day of their own death word for word.

And Ginger wasn't far from the same herself.

She wrapped her arms around him, and he returned the favor.

"...And that's...that's how I ended up the way I did. And I blamed myself for that whole ordeal. That's part of the reason why I developed that horrible view of the world...'Kill or be killed.' But now that I've met you, I...I don't regret that decision anymore. I don't regret the fact that I resisted. I...I did the right thing. If I'd killed those humans, then... we would have had to wage war on them all over again. And knowing history, odds are we would have lost again. We probably would have ended up stuck back beneath here, or...or worse..."

Ginger let go, and gave him a reassuring nod.

"Besides...in the end, everyone went free anyways, right?"

"They did. All thanks to what you did back there."

"Yeah...I...I still feel kinda sad knowing how long it took, but...even if it wasn't the perfect method of doing it, you can't regret hard choices your entire life, can you?"

"No. You can't."

"Yeah...well...not that I have much of a life left, anyways...but that's besides the point."

"Asriel..."

"It's okay, Ginger...It really is."

"I'm...I'm so sorry this is happening."

"Hey. I got to feel this way again, so it's not as bad as you think. You know what they say; it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all...Though, I'm not exactly putting that in a romantic sense like most of them do."

Ginger let out a half-hearted chuckle; his remark would have been more amusing if not for the circumstances at hand.

"...Thank you for helping me feel this way again, Ginger. And thank you for listening to what I had to say."

"It...was the least I could do, Asriel. I know it might hurt later, but...just remember. We all love you, okay?"

"I know. And while I still can, I appreciate that you do...But be careful up there, in the outside world, okay? Despite what everyone here thinks, it's...not as nice up there as it is down here, you know?"

'Yeah. There are a few pretty nasty folks up there."

"And even after everything you did, I hate to say it, but...not everything can be resolved by just being nice. Just...Don't kill, and don't be killed, alright?"

"I'll...I'll take that to heart, Asriel, and everything I've ever done in this place, even if I can't always apply it. Besides...I can't go back to the Pure Ones. I figured out the hard way in the last timeline that I'm stuck like this. I'll be a human for the rest of my life...But that doesn't mean I'll go down with my past. There's a future to look forward to."

"That's the spirit, Ging'! You go out there and start something brand new! And...I appreciate that you came down here, so we could have this talk."

Asriel was silent for a few moments. The pins-and-needles sensation in his appendages was beginning to spread farther; the magic trying to hold his soulless body together was fading faster. It wouldn't be much longer.

"Well...It's almost it for me. Thanks again for coming to see me, but you should probably-"

"Oh! Hey! I just remembered!"

"What?"

Ginger fished into her pack and pulled something out; besides her small amount of gold remaining, it was the only thing she had left in there.

"Hey...You know something? I think that messenger bag used to be mine...Barely ever used it, though; I-I didn't like venturing outside our home that much. You go ahead and keep it."

"Well...It has served me good. Thanks for that. Just...lemme get something here real quick..."

"What do you have there, Ging'?"

"I, ah...found this at New Home. I figured it must have belonged to you, so...I might as well return it while you're still here."

She placed the object into the Boss Monster's furry white hand, and his eyes widened.

"This...this is her..."

"Oh, it's Chara's? Not yours?"

"Y-yeah. I...I gave this to her about a month after she fell down the mountain."

"Really?"

"You...you don't know how much this means to me. This is all that's left of her, and...I have her back now."

Tears began to roll down Asriel's face, and he clutched the locket in his hands as though he was holding his departed sibling herself.

"Thank you...You've done so much for me. For everyone. Thank you, Ginger. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much..."

He held it so tightly, he could feel the pulse of his own hands throbbing...even from the outside.

...Wait...

Was that his hands that were throbbing, or was that...

He loosened his grip on the locket and held it in his now open palm. His hands stopped throbbing, but...

The locket didn't. It was beating like the heart it was shaped after.

"What's the matter?" Ginger inquired, seeing the confused look on his face.

"It's...it's beating...It's so weird."

"I'M not the only one who thought it was doing that?"

"N-no. It's actually..."

And the beating began to intensify, almost as though something was trying to escape it.

"What do you think's causing that?" Ginger questioned, dumbfounded as to what the cause may be.

"Here, lemme open it and see."

Asriel picked open the snap lock holding the metal heart together, and it burst open. And, in a bright flash of white light, something emerged. The two children blinked their startled eyes, then adjusted them to the white glow that seemed to be filling the entire room to see what was before them.

There, floating right before their eyes, was what looked like a white, upside-down heart, that seemed to shudder ever so slightly as it stood there.

"It...it can't be..."

And that was when Ginger realized.

"Asriel...Is...is that your..."

"My...**SOUL?**"

And in an instant, the white light grew brighter, and the monster SOUL darted into its owner's chest, where it belonged. The white light faded, leaving the the two of them awestruck.

"I...I don't believe it." Asriel whispered.

"Asriel...I read something about SOUL vessels in the True Lab. Do you think your SOUL embedded itself in there before it could shatter and used it as a vessel?"

"It...I..."

He was hyperventilating. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting this to happen. Nobody had been.

"I...guess that's the case...I...I have my SOUL back. I'm...I'm not going to turn back into-"

"YOU'RE STAYING!"

Ginger flung her arms around him again, and the two children laughed. It was incredible. He was going to retain himself...

...Or was he?

The pins-and-needles in his appendages had ceased, but a new sensation had made itself present; he felt unnaturally heavy, as though something inside of him was weighing him down. Asriel's huge smile began to falter, and he remembered something. Something important.

And it nearly broke his heart all over again knowing it.

"But...I still can't come back with you."

"Whah...what?"

Ginger released her grip, not sure if she'd heard him right.

"What'd you say?"

"I can't go back with you."

"Wha-eh...Why? What's the reason now?" Ginger questioned, looking betrayed.

"You were in the True Lab, so...you know what went on down there, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So, then...you know how...Flowey happened, right?"

"Oh my Glaux...You're **DETERMINATION**."

"I can feel it inside me. It's...it's heavy. It's weighing me down. I'm a monster. You saw it first hand; monsters' bodies aren't able to handle that much-"

"Oh, no. No, no, no, that can't happen. Not after what you've already been through, it...it can't..."

"...It's okay, Ginger. Besides, a-at least I have my compassion back. Even if I do end up a melting mess, I'll still have my SOUL. I'll still be able to feel for others. It's...it's better than being a soulless flower again."

Ginger was still on the verge of panic, but suddenly, she froze, her eyes shut.

And when they opened, they revealed a piercing glare.

"...No."

"What?"

"No. I won't allow it. I'm NOT going to let you live your life down here in agony and loneliness. You've done so much for everyone already. It's the least I can do for you."

"I don't think there's anyway to get around this one, Ginger," the prince admitted. "Besides, I'm not worth that much; especially after everything I did to hurt everyone."

"Asriel, that was a different timeline. This is now. In a way, all the things you did in your resets essentially never happened."

"But I still remember doing everything in the resets."

"Asriel...you might remember, but...it's all been undone. And now that Flowey's gone, you don't have to worry about that anymore."

"I know, but...still. I think it's better I just stay here. Besides, it'll give me some more time to myself to think about things."

"There has to be a way. If there's one thing I know I've got, it's DETERMINATION, and I've seen what DETERMINATION can do. It has to be able to do something about this. I just have to think of something..."

"Well...if, by any chance, you do, feel free to tell me. But if you don't...don't blame yourself over it. You bringing back my SOUL is more than I could've ever asked for on its own."

Ginger barely even heard him, she was already so deep in her own thoughts. She began to pace back and forth, and Asriel simply sat back down and continued tending to the flowers; odds were Ginger wasn't going to think of a solution, so he had nothing better to do. Ginger started to pace faster, as though it would help her think quicker. She didn't know how long it would take before Asriel's DETERMINATION would cause him to break down and melt like the Amalgamates in the lab. A few minutes? Several hours? Time was of the essence. She had to think quickly. What could be the missing piece to the broken jigsaw puzzle that was Asriel? What could be used to keep him from breaking down and melting? What did she have that he didn't? It would take something pretty powerful to accomplish something like that. She had **DETEMINATION**-More than him, even. That was a pretty great power. Powerful enough to save everyone, powerful enough to kill everyone, and even powerful enough to grant her the strange ability to...

Travel through points in time, and even start the entire timeline again from the point at which she fell down the mountain.

The ability to **SAVE.**

The ability to **RESET.**

Maybe. Just maybe...She didn't know whether or not it would actually work, but...

It was worth a shot if it meant he'd truly be _**SAVED**_.

"Asriel!"

"Huh!?"

Her sudden outburst startled him quite badly.

"I have an idea! It just might be crazy enough to work!"

"Wh-what is it?"

"You know how it goes. The most DETERMINED creature in the Underground gains the ability to SAVE and RESET, right?"

"Yeah. I know that. I used the power more than anybody when I had it."

"Well...what if I somehow...gave the power back to you? If a power like that can alter time itself, it can probably work itself throughout your body and be able to hold you together. It just might be what we're missing here!"

"G-give me the power to SAVE and RESET? H-how would you do something like that?"

"Maybe I can do it the same way I actually USE the power; just by willing it. If I can will it into working, then who's to say I can't will it right onto someone else?"

"I...but...Are you sure you want to give that up? It's your power, now, not mine."

"Maybe, but...I don't have any regrets over this journey. There's nothing I'm going back for, especially now that the Barrier's gone. Besides, I...don't think I'll miss it; I rarely ever used it to begin with. Only when...Only when I knew there was a way to go back and make things right. And it was only a couple of times."

"You're positive?"

"Absoultely."

"But...what if it doesn't work?"

"We'll...cross that bridge when we get to it, Asriel. But it's worth a try, isn't it?"

"I...Well..."

"I want to do this for you, Asriel. You're the one who deserves a happy ending the most out of anyone."

"You...really think that?"

"I do."

She took the Boss Monster's hands and sported a confident smirk. Asriel nearly teared up again; never had he imagined that anyone would ever forgive him for the things he did. He was touched.

"Come on, buddy. Don't get all mushy again on me now."

"S-sorry. I'm just...too soft for my own good."

"Are you ready, Asriel?"

"I...Y-you know what? Yeah! Let's try it and see if it works!"

"Alright..."

Ginger shut her eyes, wondering if she could simply will her powers away through DETERMINATION alone. She tried it, and lo and behold, something began to develop inside her.

_Is...is it working?_

She didn't open her eyes, but she could see the dimly lit cavern getting lighter and lighter. She knew that if she opened her eyes, she'd probably be blinded by the intense brightness that had swamped them. And as the light grew ever brighter, Ginger felt an odd prick, deep inside of her, that she hadn't felt in a long time, and she knew that Asriel was thinking the same things she was, and willing them through his own DETERMINATION.

It was working.

And as suddenly as it had appeared, the bright light faded away, and everything went dark.

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"Ugh...I...Whah?"

Ginger opened her eyes. All she could see was yellow. She blinked to clear her vision, and her surroundings finally came into view; she was lying in the bed of Golden Flowers, just like when she first woke up in the Underground

And when she remembered why she was here again, she jolted back up.

"Asriel!?"

She looked around for him, finally spying him lying on the ground a few feet to her right, unmoving, except for the steady rise and fall of his body. Alive, and his form still retained. Good. That was a good sign. Now to wake him up.

She stood to her feet, then approached the young Boss Monster.

"Asriel, come on. You gotta get up. I need to know if it worked!"

"Hmm...What?"

He opened his groggy eyes, vision still blurry. Was that Ginger? It was hard to tell; the blurry image before him didn't really resemble her much. Sure, she was fair skinned, but he didn't remember her face being...quite that white. The splotch that he assumed was her face looked nearly as white as his own fur coat, and it moved to the back of his head to try and speak right into his ear.

"Come on, Azzy. Rise and shine, bud."

Her voice was more plain than her image, and he sat up and rubbed his eyes, finally comprehending what she was saying to him. And as he did, he noticed something; the tingling sensation of his powers beginning to fade was gone, and so was the heavy sensation of the DETERMINATION coursing through his veins and overwhelming his magic-constructed body. He felt like he could hold himself together again. He felt just like his old self again.

It had worked.

It had actually worked.

And when he realized it, he sprang up onto his legs that he'd missed so much.

"Ginger! We did it! It worked!"

"It did!?"

She looked up at him from where she was standing...Odd. She remembered being taller than him, but now it looked like he was towering at a good DOUBLE her height, even while sitting down.

"It did! We actually-GUAAGH!"

Asriel shrieked when he finally turned and saw her, then scrambled to his feet and backed away from Ginger as far as he could, almost all the way up against the cave wall.

"What's going on!?" she questioned, swiveling her head around in search of whatever he could have screamed at. When she saw nothing, she turned her head back his way.

"Whoa...When'd you get so big, huh? Didn't expect the Save 'n' Reset power to do THAT."

"Y-y-y..." he stuttered, pointing a furry digit down at her. "Y-you're a-"

"Amazing? A genius?" she mused.

"You're a BIRD!"

As soon as he spat that out, she froze.

"...What...?"

Ginger stopped to ponder what he'd just said, then raised her arms to examine them. Her eyes widened at what she beheld.

In the place of her human arms was a set of familiar-looking, broad, brown feathered wings.

She proceeded to look down at her feet. Her stubby human toes had lengthened back into nimble talons, each tipped with a curved, black claw, and she flexed them and tapped the talons on the hard ground; they made a clicking noise, proving they were really there. And then she tried turning her head again; it swiveled in every direction, from front to back, and the other way around. And when she brought a feather to her face to feel around her mouth, she traced the telltale shape of her small, hooked beak. And the messenger bag. It sat beside the bed of Golden Flowers, and it was now enormous compared to her. Could it be?

"Ha...ha ha..."

She was ecstatic. This was real, too.

She was an owl again.

"Is...is that what you used to-"

"**YES!**"

Both of them were beaming now. He was back. She was back. They were both back to the way they should be. And it was going to stay that way. The goat monster scooped the Barn Owl up in his comparatively huge arms, and the two shared a heartfelt embrace. The two of them were hysteric, shedding tears of joy, yet laughing at the same time. It was unbelieveable. It was incredible. They were back. They'd been restored.

And they were here to stay.

Ginger was the one to calm herself first, and she squirmed her way out of Asriel's tight hold and dropped back onto the terra firma below, wiping her large, blue eyes free of tears.

"Let's go, Asriel...They're waiting for us."

The now fully restored Asriel Dreemurr wore the biggest smile she'd ever seen on a monster, even bigger than the biggest smile she'd seen on any Temmie, and he looked up at the hole his feathered friend had first come through upon her arrival. Ginger did the same; it was First Black; the two hour-long period of darkness, when the moon was low in the sky and before the sun began to spill its first rays of light over the horizon. If they got back quick enough, she could probably get everyone to see the sunrise.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Dreemurr? Last one there's a rotten egg!"

Without another word, she bolted out of the cavern and headed back for the entrance to the Ruins. She could have just as easily opened her wings and shot up out of the hole directly above them, but she didn't. In her happiness, she'd completely forgotten that. And even if she hadn't, she wouldn't have wanted to, anyway. They would go the way they came here, taking one last walk through the Underground.

And they would do it together.

"I'm right behind you, Ging'!"

He considerately scooped the messenger bag up onto his back, then followed her out of the darkness and into his old home, past all of the puzzles, and past where the Froggits had stood around. They were gone now, having left for the surface. The two of them continued through the old catacombs, the only mishap being Asriel falling through one of the hidden holes in the floor. But the two got a decent laugh out of it.

By the time they'd reached the old house, both of them had worn themselves out. Ginger decided that, perhaps, it wasn't the best idea to run the whole way back.

"Let's...try to take this...a little slower, eh, bud?"

"Y-yeah...Good call."

"You...uh...brought the bag?"

"It's...kinda heavy," he huffed. "...What's in it?"

"Oh...A few things, really. Some paper, pencils...a sharpener, PVC bow, and...uh...my cloak and armor."

"Oh...That stuff. Heh...No wonder."

"Sorry 'bout that...I'd carry it myself, but...Now, it might crush me."

"It's fine..." He swallowed, beginning to catch his breath again. "Uh...Mind if I have the bag back?"

"Well, duh. It's yours anyway, Heck, you might as well as keep the stuff in it, too. It won't fit me anymore," she mused.

And then, she eyed up the tree growing outside of Toriel's house.

"Hey..." she said to him, regaining her breath. "I might not be able to lift that thing anymore, but I can do something else...Watch this."

Ginger stretched her wings up over her head, synced her jump with the first flap of her wings, and then, for the first time in so long, lifted herself off the ground and into the air, and her wings took her spiraling up and around the tree. The feeling of her feet finally leaving the ground, paired with the cool air blowing against her and flowing through the white feathers on her face was more wonderful than she ever remembered, and she wondered why she ever took it for granted. When she finally decided to perch, she rested her talons on one of the topmost branches of the tree and curled them around it. The branch ever so slightly swayed when she put her full weight on it and folded her wings.

Asriel was amazed; never before had he seen a bird fly so gracefully and effortlessly. He didn't even hear any flapping.

"Wow..." he marveled.

"Man...I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm light, I'm happy...I'm free as a bird."

"Isn't that because you ARE one?"

"Oh, you got that pun, didja?"

"You've been taking lessons from Sans, haven't you?"

"Well, it's not like that's a bad thing. I mean, really; his jokes are..."

"Oh, no..."

"..._sans_ational."

"GINGER, YOU DIDN'T!"

As much as he wanted it to come out a rebuke, the young Boss Monster couldn't help but burst out laughing again as he said it, and the Barn Owl was quick to follow.

"Ginger, you're too much..."

"Well, great things can come in small packages. And I'm certainly no exception."

"Nope, you sure aren't."

"And neither are you, you know?"

Asriel's pristine white-furred face went light pink.

"Aw, come on. I-I haven't..."

The smile on his face fell.

"...I haven't done anything for anyone except cause pain."

"Az, everything you did in those timelines has been undone. Mind if I call you 'Az?'"

"No, that's, ah...what Chara called me sometimes, actually. But that's not completely what I meant."

"Well, then, what DO you mean?"

She flew off of the tree branch and began to walk beside him back into the old house.

"That...the day that we tried to get the human SOULs from the village. The day I...you know."

"...Fell down?"

"That's right. M-mom and Dad...They saw me cross the Barrier back into the garden. They were there when I...I...I didn't even get to say goodbye."

"But now you're getting a second chance at this. No more goodbyes, Asriel. Not yet, at least."

"Yeah..."

He still seemed upset. Ginger figured that now would be a good time to lighten up the mood.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"I, uh...think there's still some butterscotch-cinnamon pie left in the kitchen. Want me to take a peek?"

"Well...I'm not usually supposed to eat sweet stuff like that before-"

"Dude."

Her remark made him stop short, and she turned towards him, looking him dead in the eye.

"You were killed by the humans when all you wanted to do was help everyone, and in turn, you ended up trapped in a soulless plant for Glaux-knows-how-long from your perspective after all those resets, completely lacked the ability to feel love and compassion, and the only thing that you had to live for was your **DETERMINATION**. And it was like that until you finally absorbed all of those SOULs, broke the Barrier and saved all of monsterkind from another eternity of imprisonment. And if I hadn't decided to come along, your reward for all of that would have been losing your ability to feel all over again, let alone your true form. And you're apparently still not over your guilt of everything you did in the other timelines. You've been through HELL. You're STILL going through hell. I think you at LEAST deserve a frickin' piece of PIE for everything you've been through. Don't you?"

Asriel stared at her, wide-eyed. She...did have a fair point.

"I...guess that makes sense, when you put it that way."

"Thank you. Now you go in there, sit at the table, and wait for me to bring you a slice of buttery-spicy goodness."

The Boss Monster obeyed, stepping into the small house for the first time in forever, and seating himself in the exact same spot he used to when the rest of his family sat down to dine. The chair was slightly dusty from lack of use, having only been recently disturbed by Ginger herself, and even then, it hadn't been touched in nearly a week after the fact. The owl was in the kitchen, trying to work the butter knives from the drawer to cut her friend a slice. It was a good thing the butter knives were fairly light, despite the fact that they didn't cut through the crust as easily as she hoped; it was going to take a bit to get the piece out without completely butchering the pie. But she didn't dare trust herself with the immense steak knives. If they were more efficient at cutting the pie, they would be more efficient at chopping her talons clean off if they somehow slipped. Come to think of it, her decreased size made the entire pie bigger than her.

Finally, she managed to cut a wedge out, and slipped it onto the paper plate she'd fished out of the cabinet before hopping back onto the floor and carrying it to Asriel on foot.

"Indulge."

"Oh, man. Mom's cooking. I can't believe I didn't even miss this stuff."

He took the plate in his hands, grabbed the unused fork that'd been situated at his seat and dug in. Ginger fluttered to the top of the seat across from him and perched there.

"Mpff...Aren'tcha gonna hapf any yourselpf?" the Boss Monster questioned through a mouthful of pie.

"Nah, I'm good for now. Honestly, I think her Snail Pie would be more my taste."

Asriel swallowed before responding.

"Really? Chara couldn't stand the stuff; most humans don't, so they say."

"Yeah, but you gotta remember; I was born like this, not a human. Snails and slugs aren't that weird for owls to eat."

"Oh. How, uh...How do you guys prepare them?"

"Like, what, cooking? Eh. A lot of the time, we just eat 'em raw, right out of the shells. But sometimes the chefs in the Union kitchen make some sort of sour jelly out of the milkberries growing on the smaller Ga'Hoole trees in Tyto and the Mirror Lakes, and they put the slug or snail on the plate, and they just _drown_ them in the stuff. It's soft, it's tart, it's got just enough sweetness; nothing too overboard. It's one of the best things I've ever put in my beak. Except maybe chocolate."

"Wow...I wonder if I'd ever get to try something like that?"

"Who knows? Maybe you...you can..."

Ginger trailed off, and her eyes widened in realization of something

"What? What is it?"

"My Glaux," she almost breathed. "I just realized...They don't know."

"Who doesn't know about what?"

"Everyone back at New Home. They don't know about..._this!_"

She motioned her wings up and down herself.

"They don't know I used to be an owl! You're the only one!"

"What!? Wh-why didn't you tell them!?"

"I didn't think they would have bought it! You don't just say 'I used to be an owl!' and expect people to believe you! Besides, I-I didn't think this was all gonna happen; I said it myself, I thought I was stuck as a human for the rest of my life!"

"But...does that mean they won't believe me when I say 'I used to be a flower?'"

Ginger paused. She realized that Asriel had a point.

"Magic down here works in strange ways, doesn't it?"

Ginger nodded solemnly in agreement; true, if it was possible for Asriel to come back from the dead as a flower and then restore his original form with the aid of all the SOULs in the Underground, it was probably just as plausible to say that Ginger had been turned into a human upon her arrival, and only reverted back into a Barn Owl by giving up her powers in order to sustain the young prince.

"Besides, even if you look different, it's still you. They know you well enough to know it's you. I know it."

"Yeah...Yeah, I guess you're right...But they'll still probably be freaked out when they see me."

"Heh..."

Asriel scraped the last bit of his pie onto the fork before finishing it off.

"...Same here."

"Well...I guess we're going to have to get that part over with, huh?"

"Yeah. We've got a lot of explaining to do for when we get back."

He stood up, and the two of them made their way to the stairs leading down to the exit to the Ruins.

"Hey, Ginger."

"Hm? What?"

"Wanna perch on my arm? Your legs are shorter than mine, and I don't want you getting tired."

"You know I can fly, right?"

"Yes, I did. I just thought it'd be easier on you."

Ginger was about to debate that he didn't have to, and he might even end up hurt by her black claws digging into him, but she couldn't. His offer was too genuine, too kind to turn down. And, really, the trip back would probably be more pleasant being right at his side.

"Eh...Okay. I'll take you up on that."

Asriel extended an arm, and the Barn Owl lightly fluttered her wings and lightly curled her talons around it, facing herself in the same direction he was.

"But make sure to tell me if your arm gets tired, you hear?"

"I gotcha. Now, come on. Let's do this thing!"

The restored prince opened the giant door and exited his first home for the first time in what was practically ages.

And he didn't look back at it as he trudged through the snow; it would probably be the last time he ever saw the Ruins as well.

And the same thing went for the young Barn Owl that sat comfortably on his arm.

* * *

**A/N: So Asriel's back for good, and Ginger's an owl again. I'm probably gonna get a lot of mixed views on how I did this.**

**Some people think it's better for Asriel to be left behind to turn back into Flowey, since it delivers that extra emotional "umph." Others think it'd be nice finding a way to bring him back. The same goes for Ginger, and how the Optional Ending goes with her integrating herself into human society and putting her past with the Pure Ones behind.**

**...Whatever. This is a fanfiction. I can do whatever the sprink I want with it. XD**

**I've read up on SOULs on the Undertale wiki. According to some of Alphys' log entries in the True Lab, monster SOULs could supposedly be stored in vessels for later use. She was going to try this on Golden Flowers, but they were apparently too difficult to work with and didn't work much differently from the control cases holding the human SOULs, and she never extracted any monster SOULs anyway, so instead she had the bright idea of injecting the one growing with Asriel's DNA dust or whatever in it with a healthy dose of DETERMINATION. And then Flowey happened. Thanks a lot, Jurassic Dork...No, like...seriously. Thank you for that, Alphys. If it weren't for you, Asriel wouldn't be here and the Barrier wouldn't be gone.**

**There are only a few chapters left. Remember to R&R! Thanks for following along! :D**


	41. Chapter 38: Discussions

"...It's a nice little town, isn't it?"

They passed through the little town in the subterranean tundra. Ginger scanned around, looking at the citizens; the members of the Canine Unit were all gathered around Endogeny, yipping and chatting with each other, and a few other townspeople were marveling at the Amalgamation of a dog. Nobody seemed to take notice of the resurrected prince passing by with an owl perched on his arm.

"Sure is," Asriel agreed. "It's a little sad that it's just going to get left down here, though. All cold, and lonely..."

"Hey. What if this place was rebuilt on the surface somewhere?"

"Like, you mean, everyone relocating the shops in new buildings?"

"No, I mean literally building an exact replica of the town somewhere snowy! Everything can be the same as here!"

"Do you really think we could pull that off?"

"Well, yeah! Snowdin 2.0. Snowdin, but on the surface!"

"Cool idea, Ginger; I'll suggest it to Dad next chance I get!"

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...So, it is true," she affirmed. "You yourself personally...took care of the first? And ONLY the first?"

"She...she said that if it would help us, then...She wouldn't fight back. And then she just...stood there. Arms open and waiting. Almost like she wanted to do it all along."

Toriel shook her head bitterly.

"I didn't think I would feel anything. No sympathy, no remorse, after what humankind had done to...But I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm not sure how long I mourned. All I know is that I nearly took that trident to myself when I'd finished."

"What of the other five?"

"...The Royal Guard, for the most part, with one exception...The SOUL of Kindness...suicided in Hotland, due to lack of resources, so I've been told. I know my incumbent captain did the dirty work on the SOULs of Integrity and Justice."

She looked out into the room where everyone was waiting. So, Asgore was not the only one with human blood on his hands, it seemed...No wonder she and Ginger seemed to have such a disdain for each other.

"...I don't think it hurt them much, if that makes you feel any better."

Speak of the devil. Undyne was right behind them...How much had she heard?

She shot the captain a dirty look, and she retreated back to where she came from. No; it DIDN'T make her feel any better about the situation.

"The SOUL of Justice...fought her back. There was still one bullet left in his gun, and when he used it in the battle...well...It's obvious where it landed."

"Okay, I might have made that one a little more painful than the last one."

Again, the look the Boss Monster gave the captain was nothing short of a death glare, and she disappeared again.

"You've done many a terrible thing, Asgore. Undyne, as well."

"I know. And I will carry the burdens of my sins for the remainder of my days," he answered, kneeling in submission.

"But, I will admit...My first interpretation when I heard the news was that you slew each and every one of them personally, and without remorse, judging from what I last saw of you. The reality of the events is...not...quite as terrible as I first thought."

Asgore just barely rose his head as she continued.

"Do not get me wrong; it is still absolutely despicable, what you've done. Yet..."

She sighed; as much as she hated to admit it...

"...I doubt you wanted it anymore than I did. Before I came here, Ginger sent me a letter, regarding you. She wrote that she'd spoken with you, and that she felt she could finally convince you to stop the massacre...It seems she very well did, judging by what I heard from outside the Barrier room."

"I am quite glad she did...If only I knew you'd been in the Ruins. If I'd known you tried to...That I was..."

"Asgore..."

Toriel watched on as the regal King of Monsters fell into a pitiful heap of a creature and wept at her feet.

"I took them from you," he lamented. "I took them all from you and I had no idea. I'll never forgive myself for this, never..."

"You BEST forgive yourself for it, Asgore," she almost snapped, not able to find the anger or the hatred in order to do so. "If she can, then you can. And...I hope to as well. If not now, then someday."

He raised his head just a bit, a tiny smile making itself present on his face, even as his tears continued to fall. Just her forgiveness alone, even if not now, was more than what he could have ever asked for.

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...Is that smoke?"

"Oh. Probably. Undyne's house must still be ablaze...or, at least, what's left of it."

"How'd it get set on fire? I know I said I saw most of what you did here, but, uh...not every single thing."

"It was kind of...both of our faults. But in my defense, I've never used a stovetop before and had no idea how they worked. And SHE'S the one who kept telling me to turn up the heat, so really the blame can't be split 50/50."

"How would you split it, then?"

"Heh heh...I'd say 90/10. I'm the 10, in case you didn't know."

"Oh, really?"

"Just don't tell her I said that! She'll probably try to skewer me again!"

"Oh, boy...That wouldn't be good."

"Well, now that I have my claws back maybe I'll be able to show her what a battle on MY turf is like. See how well she like losing her OTHER eye..."

"You don't like her much, do you?"

"Well, DUH. What made it obvious?"

"A lot of things, actually."

"The little 'date' episode at the Trash Zone was the icing on the cake."

"Oh...I didn't see that, either. I probably would have been there, but I was busy, uh...trying to write something without any hands."

"You honestly should have seen it; you don't know HOW many insults I wanted to hurl. Especially one in particular..."

The last remark came out as more of a murmur than a coherent statement.

"But even so, we've both agreed to just sort of be...you know, closet enemies when we're all hanging out together. Trying to kill each other every chance we get is just going to make things worse for everyone."

"So, will you come out of the closet when you two are alone?"

Ginger made a very strange-looking frown.

"...What?"

"Did you have to word it that way?"

* * *

...

* * *

"...So...this is what they were kept in."

"The SOUL vessels...Human SOULs, as you know, live on after death, and do not require solid hosts. Just...containment, to keep them from, ah...wandering off."

"M-hm..." she grumbled.

"I'm...not sure how much this will help matters, but...I did...speak to them, whenever I got the chance."

"Did you, now?"

"Erm, well...it was only in one direction; SOULs are not very...talkative, it seems, unless you merge with one...which I have never done. But I'm sure they could hear me; every so often, I could have sworn they glowed just a tad brighter...In a way, you know, since their SOULs are still present, they're still...with us, so to say...If only I knew where they were now. They probably would have liked to see you again."

"What...sorts of things did you talk to them about?"

"Mostly mundane subjects; told them about the flowers and birds in the garden, read to them every so often...alerted them whenever I...got another..."

His eyes grew wet again, and he blinked rapidly to expel the tears.

"I...wonder if they could speak with one another, if not me."

"I cannot say for sure...but I will not completely put it out of plausibility."

"There are still many things about the nature of SOULs that I do not know...Perhaps my Royal Scientist would offer more information on the subject if you're interested? She's been working on such subjects for quite a while now."

"Hm..."

"That reminds me...She hasn't given me any updates on the project in a while; I'll go ask her about it."

"What kind of project?"

"Well...Her task was to see if she could successfully get a monster SOUL to persist after death, from those who had already fallen down. If this was accomplished, I thought that maybe we could find another way to break the Barrier without having to...to...you know..."

"Take anymore innocent lives?"

"Y-yes...that."

"I see...So you DID try to find an alternative of some sort."

"It would have been better that way...But I suppose it doesn't matter now, seeing that the Barrier is gone."

"Do you think that flower had anything to do with that?"

"I wouldn't know...But anyways, I think it's about time to get the results of the experiments. Dr. Alphys! Would you please join us in the Barrier Hall?"

There was no response.

"Erm...Dr. Alphys?"

Finally, he saw her tiny yellow head peeping out through the door. She seemed...hesitant to approach; maybe Toriel intimidated her some?

"It's alright; she won't hurt you...will you, Toriel?" he made sure of.

"Unlikely." she answered, with a small, breathy laugh.

He beckoned the Royal Scientist to come forth, and she complied, though very slowly. She seemed upset about something.

"Dr. Alphys, would you like to share with us the results of your experimentation on the SOULs of monsters?"

She swallowed, and sweat began to bead down her feathery brow again; sure, Ginger had forgiven her for the disastrous results, but this was King Asgore, the one who'd assigned her the project in the first place. AND the queen, now. What would THEY think?

"Is...something the matter, doctor?" he asked.

Finally, the Velociraptor sighed, hanging her head in shame.

"I...I'll tell you," she finally said. "I-it's about time I did."

"Did something happen?"

She nodded, and he stooped down to match her inferior height somewhat. Even on his knee, he still towered a good two feet over her.

"Go ahead," he reassured with a smile. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't possibly be that bad."

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes again, and she shut them tightly to prevent this.

"...It all started when I first g-got the bodies..."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"How are you not sweltering? You're covered in fur AND you have long sleeves."

"Well, you see, Boss Monsters' fur is designed for adaptability; it actually helps keep us cool in high temperatures as much as it keeps us warm in cold ones. When its hot out, it provides a special sort of airflow so that the whole body is cooled down."

"Even with long sleeves?"

"Even then. Besides, if the heat gets to me, I can always roll them up."

"Eh...Whatever you say, pal."

"What about you, though? You've got feathers."

"We can spread them out to release more heat if we do get too hot, but it takes a pretty decent amount of heat to do that. Birds have a higher temperature than mammals'."

"How hot?"

"Average avian body temperature is around 105 degrees. We have high metabolism, so we need to be hot stuff in order to keep our systems working. Yours?"

"Oh, wow...Mom and Dad say that anything above 99 or 100 is a fever. I'm scared to think of how hot birds might get when they're sick."

"I'm not really sure, but I imagine it wouldn't be that much cooler than the outer temperature here."

"...That's hot."

"I guess it's a good thing we owls are such hot stuff."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...But you said you brought them all back home, didn't you?"

The Royal Scientist nodded.

"What did the families have to say about this?" Toriel asked.

"Th-they...all actually seemed p-pretty happy to see them again. Even...l-like that. It's funny, you know...The Amalgamates themselves d-don't really hold a grudge against me f-for what I did to them all. I-in fact, they all seem content the way they are. But...They're still all misshapen a-and melty, and...I-I don't think they'll ever be the same again. Even if I tried, th-there's almost no way to successfully separate all the d-different entities like that, a-a-and once the **DETERMINATION**'s in, th-there's no safe way to get it out. They're all stuck like that for the rest of their lives and..."

What she said afterward was incoherent, having turned from clear language to hysterical blubbering.

"Oh, you poor dear," Asgore consoled as he pulled the tiny monster into as soft an embrace he could manage. "You didn't know it would happen. Nobody did."

"I didn't know, I...I-I'm sorry I failed you," she managed to utter. "I failed so many people, I..."

"But they're all alive and happy, are they not? You at least brought them back; I think that's more than any of the families could have ever asked for."

"...Well..." She sniffed. "I...guess you have a point. But I...I'm just so sorry for everything, Asgore. The subjects, a-abandoning the experiment, leaving all of th-the families in the dark for so long, the lies, I...I can't even express in words how sorry I am for everything."

"It's alright, Alphys. I promise it's alright."

"...You're still fired," Toriel added.

"U-understandable," the smaller monster accepted. "Heh...I was thinking about r-resigning anyway. T-too much stress."

"Hm...Besides," the queen continued. "There is not much a need for a Royal Scientist anymore, seeing that we will all be heading to the surface."

"She does have a point," Asgore agreed. "Perhaps you could find another lab to work at? With humans, perhaps?"

"Uh...Y-yeah! Maybe...!"

"Whatever the case may be, I am quite sure that the surface will offer a bounty of potential careers for all of us. I, ah...may have to step down from the throne, however. It would not surprise me if the land above ground has already been claimed by stronger forces. Tori, didn't you say on occasion that you were passionate about teaching?"

"Do not 'Tori' me, Asgore," she scolded, failing to hide the bit of a playful intonation in her voice. "But you are right. I may try to open one up myself, if I get the chance."

"...Can I be the groundskeeper?"

"Oh, that depends on how well you BEHAVE, mister."

"...Yes, Toriel..."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"Sooooo, I might end up stuck with you guys for a bit once we get to the surface in the case that my little party's already left for the island. Is that gonna be an issue?"

"Doubt it; you owls are pretty independent, aren't you?"

"That we dare. Honestly, though, I can't wait to fly over the treetops again and find a vole to slip down my gullet; it's been too long since I've experienced the thrill of proper hunting. And the sensation of a full gizzard? Oh, man; makes it twitch just thinking about it. Just HAVING one again feels INCREDIBLE by itself, really."

"Well, it won't be much longer now before you get that chance."

"Nope."

"Heh..."

"Heh heh...heh...So, unrelated question."

"Yeah?"

"You wanna watch _Jurassic Park III_ with me when we get up there?"

"What's that?"

She showed off the DVD case she'd snagged from back at the lab.

"Movie I found in the dump; don't know why anyone would have thrown it away, it's an absolute thrill ride."

"Really? What's it about?"

"I won't spoil too much, but it's basically about a bunch of humans going to this remote, restricted island full of dinosaurs. Lots of people get eaten and I love it."

"Sounds scary..."

"Eh, well, you're not wrong. But it's not exactly a monster-horror movie. The dinosaurs really do behave the way you'd imagine, like real, primitive animals. Besides, not all of them eat people; some of them are vegan. And some of them even have motives for their kills. I mean, if you were a Velociraptor and someone stole your eggs, wouldn't you want to give them a piece of your mind?"

"Probably, but...I wouldn't want to be _too_ mean about it."

"And that's exactly what happened; even raptors can have a soft side, it seems."

"It sounds like you really enjoyed it. You show it to anyone else?"

"Well, the first time I watched it was at the skeleton bros' place. Papyrus loved it; he and I even have this inside joke about one of the scenes."

"Which scene?"

"It'd be funnier if you saw it yourself instead of me explaining it."

"Oh..."

"Alphys, though...I thought SHE of all the monsters down here would like a movie about dinosaurs. Because, well...duh. Actually, the first thing I thought when I saw her for the first time was 'Wait, what is that, a Velociraptor?' No joke."

"Hee hee hee hee...What'd she think of it?"

"I really should have taken the gore into account before I suggested it to her. Didn't take long for her to vacate and vomit...You could say I kinda forgot about the super-realistic human corpse falling out of the parachute and into the screen without warning. That's a little different from what she saw in the lab, though, so in hindsight, I guess I can see why she was so disturbed by it."

"Ugh. I'd probably toss my cookies if I saw that, too. Even when I was a flower, I...could never get used to too much blood. I figured it was a good thing monsters just turn to dust when they die, so there's usually not TOO much of it."

"Yeah. It's a lot more graphic with humans and animals. The body sits wherever it sits, and just...rots. And it's not just a disturbing image; when the decomposition sets in, it makes the most HORRIBLE stench. Smells like someone yarped all over a pile of rotten eggs, then left the pile out in the heat of the summer sun to ferment."

"Ew, _gross_. I'll be sure to steer clear of human cemeteries once we're all up there."

"Well, the bodies are buried in a graveyard, so the smell doesn't really penetrate the ground, I don't think...But If Al' thought just the sight was sickening, imagine if she smelled it; she'd probably end up losing an entire day's worth of meals. All at once...But even after that, she wouldn't quit watching it, even when I said I should turn it off; maybe she thought that by watching it, she'd toughen herself up a bit more."

"She could have also just been trying to please you; I mean, when someone shows you their favorite movie, they probably wouldn't expect you to puke about it."

"Yeah, I know, but still. She was all like, _'N-no, no, I can take this! If-if I could watch those monsters melt into goop, I can handle some f-fake movie blood!_'"

"Oh. My gosh."

"What?"

"You sounded. JUST like her! Ha ha ha ha ha ha...!"

"Wait, really?"

"Do more! You'll see what I mean."

"Oh, well, okay."

The owl cleared her throat, making sure she would sound nasally enough.

"_Wh-what!? No! No I don't sit on my bed and watch anime all day!_"

Asriel burst out laughing, and Ginger, realizing that he'd been right, did the same. They were lucky that the resort had been mostly cleared out, otherwise they would have had several eyes on them.

"Wait, wait, wait, can you do Papyrus!?"

"Let's see."

She got the rest of the laughs out of her system before giving it a go.

"_NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! FEAR NOT, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE SPAGHETTI YOU COULD EVER EAT!_"

Asriel kept laughing; she was SPOT ON.

"Wait, wait, Asriel, watch this..."

She paused for a few moments to make sure she wouldn't ruin the impersonation with her own laughter right in the middle of it. And when she was sure she wouldn't, she went ahead.

"_hey, my name's sans and i'm super lazy, and whatever. wanna go to grillby's? the guy that runs that place is...lit._"

Asriel's howling laughter became so loud, Ginger wouldn't have been surprised if her friends at the exit could hear it at this point.

* * *

...

* * *

"I was going to give them all a proper burial once we reached the surface," Asgore explained as he and the queen headed down the stairs to the basement. "...It was the least I could do for them after..."

He trailed off.

"...Are you sure you want to see the bodies?" he affirmed. "It...If it will hurt you, I do not want you to see the empty shells they used to be. And...I fear it very much will."

"...Then how about you go first?"

"Fair enough," he agreed. "I'll...prepare you as best I can, in that case."

He stepped over the empty red coffin and approached the orange one. It was odd, but...The lid of it looked slightly crooked, like it wasn't secured correctly.

_Curious..._ he said to himself, not thinking much of it yet.

He knew what happened to humans' bodies when they died...So, then, why was he so afraid?

Slowly, and almost hesitantly, he pried the lid off the casket to behold the body of the young human that laid inside.

Only to discover that it wasn't there.

"...What?"

Toriel could see the confusion in his eyes.

"Is something amiss?" she questioned.

"...Very," he answered. "...It's gone."

"Gone?"

She came over to see for herself, cautiously peering down into the coffin.

It was empty. In fact, there wasn't a single trace of the body that'd been in there for almost eight years.

Not knowing what to expect, Asgore flipped up the lids of the other coffins; Justice, Kindness, Patience, Integrity, Perserverance...All of them. Gone. No mummy wrappings, no skeletal remains, nothing. It was almost as though the bodies had just...

Gotten up and left themselves.

But that couldn't possibly be the case...Could it?

The two of them looked at each other for a while; dumbfounded, shocked, frightened even.

"Toriel..." he breathed. "...You don't think...when that flower did what he did it could have..."

The expression on her face was all he needed to see to know; she was thinking the same thing.

"...Wherever they are now," Asgore smiled. "I...I hope they find their way home."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"This place is actually pretty humble for a family of monarchs."

"Well, my parents didn't want everyone to have the impression that we were, uh...'hoity-toity,' I think is what Mom said."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Even if we are the Royal family, we're still mostly just like everybody else, and we wanted people to see that. Mom and Dad are really good, you know, and...they wanted to make sure I turned out like them, too."

"Ah, I see...Um...I have another question."

"Yeah?"

"I know this might be a little weird, considering your perspective of time from all those **RESETS**, but...exactly how old are you?"

"Oh, that's all? Well, uh...I was like this the day I...you know, so I guess I'm starting up again from that point. I was about nine-and-a-half, I think, so I guess that's the answer to your question. But if I'd been...well...'actually' alive all this time, I'd probably be pushing into adulthood."

Ginger whistled.

"Long time."

"You?"

"Twelve. Gonna be thirteen in the spring."

"Oh...That's pretty neat. But anyway, from my perspective, it's actually probably been at least TRIPLE what I am now, if not more. I've got a lot of knowledge from all the RESETS stored away. More than you'd think for someone my...real age."

"Wise beyond your years?"

"That's about right, and it's both a blessing and a curse. I kinda wish I stuck around a little while longer for Mom and Dad to teach me about some of the things I figured out myself, but...oh, well..."

"Those two are some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, Asriel. I'm gonna say that."

"Yeah...They sure are."

"Speaking of which..."

He was walking down the Judgement Hall towards the Throne Room, Ginger still perched on one of his arms, and the light bouncing off the illuminated yellow walls from the torches lining them bathed the two children in that seemingly otherworldly golden glow. Up ahead was the turn that lead to the Throne Room, and just past the there was the exit to the Underground, where everyone would be standing, waiting for them.

"We're almost there, Asriel," she said to him. "They're just beyond the Throne Room."

The Boss Monster was strangely silent, and Ginger noticed that his formerly brisk gait had considerably slowed.

"...Asriel?"

And, just outside the Throne Room, he stopped. Ginger addressed him again, but he refused to look her in the eye.

"...You're worried about how they'll react when they see you, aren't you?"

"It's...not just that. What if...what if they don't think it's really me? Like, they think I'm just some illusion, or...or worse..."

"An imposter?"

Asriel nodded solemnly.

"And, even if they did think it was really me...They saw me come back, a-and they saw me turn to dust right in front of them. Seeing me...back, like this...They'll probably ask so many questions, and...I don't know if I'll be ready to answer them all, and...what if...What if they don't forgive me for what I did? What if they...they don't love me anymore...?"

"Asriel," she said to him again. "Your parents are going to be overjoyed. And if they do ask questions, just...just tell them the truth. It's better than bottling it all up, and if I could forgive you, then it'll be a snap for them. You're their son, for Glaux's sake. They won't ever stop loving you...They never did."

Asriel smiled, then, in one swift motion, wrapped the Barn Owl in another embrace.

"Thanks so much...You've already done so much for me, and for everyone. I know I've probably said it enough times, but there's just no way I could ever thank you enough."

If Ginger's wings weren't pinned up against her body, she would have returned his token of affection.

"But...i-if you don't mind..." he stuttered, putting the bird on the ground. "Would...would you mind going ahead of me? I just want them to prepare for what they're going to see by knowing what went on with you. That might help."

"Not a problem; my situation might be a little easier to explain."

With these thing being said, the two of them finally continued into the Throne Room. Ginger scouted ahead, just to make sure the two of them didn't take anyone by surprise. The off chance that Asgore might be standing there, tending to his garden again as when she'd first seen him, loomed over her head, but ultimately proved to be false. The room was empty.

The two of them walked around the immense flowerbed, and Asriel eyed the two thrones sitting in the room. He took particular notice of the one off in the corner, covered by the white sheet to conceal itself from view. It was his mother's old throne, apparently having fallen into disuse after she left the king. He wondered if the two former spouses would ever reconcile; they had been practically inseparable before his death, and Toriel had only left him because of his declaration of war on humanity. He wasn't sure how likely a reunion between them was, especially after everything Asgore had supposedly done, but all Asriel could really do was hope.

At least they seemed to get along alright earlier; he remembered a few of the things said between them while he was working his snaky vines(which were no longer with him) into the canisters, and it was a far cry from Toriel just chastising his every decision since her disappearance. Maybe there was still a chance...

They approached the door to the next room, hugging the wall to avoid being seen. Ginger heard her friends mingling with one another from inside, and she rose a feather up to her beak, signaling for the Boss Monster to remain silent before listening in.

"W-well...Maybe she went back for that movie! She might have left it at my place after we watched it. I-I don't know...just a thought..."

"Well, even if that is the case, she sure is takin' her sweet time. I could've walked all the way from here to the Ruins and I'd have been back by now."

Little did the fish monster know that Ginger had done just that, and then some.

"I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF SHE WENT BACK TO ALERT THE MONSTERS IN THE RUINS TO THE OPEN BARRIER!"

"that's entirely possible."

"I'm sorry. I-I'm just...a little worried, is all. Like...C-come on. What could happen?"

"If it is within everyone's best interests, I will not hesitate to send out a search party to locate her. Even so, I am quite sure she's alright, wherever she is, especially if she carries the good tidings of the Barrier's destruction."

"Gorey's right. We-"

She heard Toriel stop short upon realizing what she'd just said, and Ginger imagined her throwing her furry hands over her mouth in embarrassment. One thing was for sure; if she was calling him that again, she could safely assume things had gone smoothly during her absence.

"smooth move, toriel."

"I mean, ahm...My apologies. That sort of slipped...Oh, Asgore, don't you start weeping again, you've put yourself through enough of that...!"

"...eeeeeeeee_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE_"

"ERM...SANS. WHY DOES DR. ALPHYS SOUND LIKE A MOSQUITO?"

"_They'resocutetogether~!_"

Oh, boy. Ginger figured she'd better go on in there and sort things out before the little yellow raptor turned into a squeeing mess.

"I'll give you the signal when I'm ready," Asriel told her, seeing that she was about to make herself known.

"Bravo, six. Going dark."

Ginger turned towards the doorway, then carefully stepped inside. Her talons were so quiet against the stone floor that even she could barely hear them, and the monsters were apparently oblivious to the faint noise as well, even when she had shortened the distance between herself and the crowd to only two yards. She drew in a deep breath, reminding herself to expect the worst reaction.

"...Guys?"

Toriel, who had her back turned toward her, was the first to hear her voice, and she turned around, expecting to see the human that she cared for so dearly, but instead saw the small, brown bird she'd become at her feet.

"Oh...an owl?" She was clueless. "Where did you come from?"

"Well, last time we both checked, I came from the surface."

Toriel's eyes widened. There was no mistaking Ginger's smooth, even somewhat snarky intonation, let alone her all-too familiar voice.

"Uh, yeah. It's me. I'm back," she admitted flatly. "But I doubt you were expecting this, huh?"

Now everyone was eyeing the Barn Owl, eyes bugged out as though she had three heads.

"What...what _happened_ to you?" Toriel whispered, mortified.

"It's a long story, fellas, but in a nutshell...this is the real me. This is what I looked like before I fell into the mountain. It might have had something to do with the amount of **DETERMINATION** I have and how it interacted with the Barrier, but somehow, I became a human. And now...I'm not a human anymore. I'm the way I used to be...which is a good thing, so please...PLEASE don't freak out."

The six monsters exchanged glances with one another, all of them wide-eyed and obviously confused. But none of them seemed to be in a state of panic, which the young owl supposed was a good thing.

"So...this is, like, normal for you?" the Royal Guard Head finally said.

"Yep. It's all good."

"Well...This certainly is quite a surprise," Toriel replied, emitting somewhat of a chuckle as she said it, but still bewildered beyond words. "But I do believe you, child. Why, I cannot mistake that voice anywhere...Besides, after all that has happened, I doubt there is much that cannot be believed..."

"I was thinking the same thing myself, not too long ago."

"SANS! ALPHYS IS MAKING MOSQUITO NOISE AGAIN AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!"

"prepare your ears, kiddo. here it comes..."

The owl approached the Royal Scientist, her humorously deadpan blue eyes looking into the monster's large, sparkling brown ones.

"...This is actually kinda weird," she remarked. "I thought YOU were supposed to be the short one."

"guE**_EEEEEOHMYGOSH!YOU'RESOSMALLANDCUTEANDFLUFFYLOOKINGICAN'TTAKEITAND-_**"

Alphys' rambling became so high-pitched that it was no longer coherent until it finally died down some.

"_**~UWAOH**MY_GOSH I...Heh...S-sorry about that, I couldn't help myself. Um...J-just lemme..."

The former Royal Scientist reached down to stroke the top of the owl's head.

"I'm gonna have to get used to this..." Ginger decided.

"So you're gonna stay small like that, huh?" the fish monster taunted. "Cool; now I can step on you more easily,"

"Oh, you wanna bet?"

Ginger flew up to just above her eye level and fluttered closer to her face, menacingly flashing the hooked claws she's so yearned to have back.

"AND I have an aerial advantage, now. You wouldn't want to fight me if you know what's good for ya."

"I'll take my chances. You and me; whenever we get a chance."

"Don't mind if I do."

"WOWIE! WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING ABLE TO FLY?"

"Oh, it's pretty cool, I guess."

It was more than just that, but she didn't want to make herself out to be a braggart.

"M-mind if I ask a question?"

"What's on your mind, Alphy'?"

"If...if you were like that before you came down here, a-and the interaction w-with the Barrier ended up making you human, how exactly d-did you turn back?"

"Oh...Well, I actually had to-"

"Wait! Don't tell me! I have a hypothesis!" Alphys interrupted. "Did it have something to do with the Barrier breaking? If what happened to you upon passing through had something to do with an abnormal reaction with the magic composing the Barrier, maybe when the Barrier broke, the cause for the transformation was reversed, too! I mean, you were still a human for quite a bit after it was destroyed, but the effects of the Barrier didn't necessarily have to wear off right away! Something as powerful as that could take several minutes, or even hours to completely fade away!"

Although she wasn't entirely correct, Ginger had to give her props for her sudden, yet very extensive theory.

"Good guess, but actually no; my form only wore off when I made it. I gave up my humanity willingly. But I have to say, that was a pretty interesting thesis; you even said all that without stuttering."

"O-oh, I-I-I-I did?"

"Aaaaaand, it's gone."

Her yellow-scaled face flushed pink again.

"Heheh, heh...Hey, but...I...I-I did, didn't I?"

"It's progress. Keep it up and you'll be giving speeches for the world's most advanced scientific corporations in no time flat."

"Oh, well...I-I wouldn't say that."

"D'aw, come on, Al! The bird's got a point, you are gettin' better at it."

Undyne's further compliment only made her even more flustered, and she ended up hiding her scarlet face in her hands in embarrassment.

"I mean, you're a lot more capable than you might think, bud," the owl continued. "At least your lab's still standing, am I right?"

She peered up at the fish monster, obviously referring to what happened at their little meetup at her now destroyed house. It took her a minute to get the hint, though, but when she did, her sole yellow eye looked down at the Barn Owl with all the ferocity of a rabid Dire Wolf.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

"Hi, 'Gonna-kill-you.' I'm Ginger."

"Wha-"

"my god, kid...i'm so proud..."

Undyne fell to her knees in defeat and let out a frustrated growl; she never thought she'd be bested by a lowly bird.

"Pray tell, dear Ginger," Asgore inserted. "You say that you willingly gave up your humanity?"

"That's right."

"But why?" Toriel added. "And how, exactly?"

Ginger inhaled through her beak, making a hissing sound; she would have to come clean soon...

No...THEY would have to come clean soon.

"Um...Hold on, just a sec."

She looked back at the door to the Throne Room, then peered around the doorway to see if the young prince was still there, waiting. And that he was.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she heard him whisper. And she winked at him in response.

"Is someone there?" the king asked, having seen her look out the door, though not the wink.

"Uh...Yes. There is someone there."

"Another friend of yours, dear?" the other Boss Monster continued.

"Yeah. You could say that."

"Oh, how nice. Well...Would it be alright for us to meet whoever it is?"

"He...says he's ready. But I better give you and...*_ahem_*...'Gorey' a heads up."

Toriel's eyes narrowed, and Asgore went as red as his Royal Scientist had.

"Oh, you heard that, did you?"

"These ears can pick up the heartbeat of a rabbit from fifty feet above ground. I can hear a lot of things you can't."

"My goodness...Are you sure you're not stretching that _just_ a tad?"

"Positive. We have to have strong eyes and ears in order to hunt the way we do. Ask my peers, they'll tell you the same thing."

"Oh, my...Well...Before we meet your friend, since your here, I might as well tell you what exactly went on while you were away; regarding the king and I."

Ginger gave no verbal response, rather sat down on the stone floor and looked the Boss Monster directly in the eye, indicating that she was listening.

"As you know, I read your letter, child. You do hold several points. If Asgore had absorbed one SOUL, then tried to collect the other six among the humans on the surface, then... well...History would have likely repeated itself. And if...If I had done something to prevent them from having been taken in the first place instead of just..."

"Leaving?"

Ginger's reply was not condescending, rather understanding; something that Toriel had seen in her from the start, even though she rarely ever showed it. Asgore approached from behind and stopped beside her as she spoke.

"...We have agreed that we were both in the wrong. And if you could forgive him, then..."

She acknowledged the king's presence. He had already heard all of this while the human-turned-owl was gone, but he was happy to be hearing her kind words again.

"...So can I."

The owl had to strain to stop the smile inching across her face from becoming too ridiculously wide. The monarchs saw this, and they each stifled their own, small laughs.

"I...cannot exactly condone what Asgore has done," Toriel sighed. "But I can see that he was left with a very difficult choice. And, as his partner in ruling, it was also my responsibility to help him reason on what he should do. And...I let my own emotions get the better of me. You were right to say that neither of us were in the best state of mind during that time. I see these things, now. As has Asgore."

"We both agree that we'll take each day as it comes, and hope for the best."

"I do not recall saying THAT, Asgore."

"W-well, I...don't necessarily mean between you and I, you know, heh. I-I mean with everyone down here."

"Asgore, I wonder whether I should see your dedication as touching or unnerving," she teased him.

"Ah...Well, I...If...Just remember, if there's anything I can do for you, then don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

"I will keep that in mind."

"Nice. Very nice," Ginger answered. "Which is good. That's going to please someone."

"Your friend is ready to introduce himself, is that right?" Toriel inquired.

"He is. He has been...But you two aren't."

"...Why ever not?" Asgore questioned, confused at her reply.

"What you're about to witness is...something you won't believe unless I explain in words how unbelievable it really is. If I don't tell you it's real beforehand, you won't think it's real. He told me he was afraid you would think he was a ghost, or some sick fake. And I'm here to tell you that he's real. I know he's real. Because I met him while I was out. I went all the way back the Ruins and found him there. I spoke to him. I got to know him...And I **SAVED** him. Using the powers retaining my human form, I gave them up to SAVE him. And he's here. He's standing just outside this room, waiting to see you both again."

"So, who you're talking about," Alphys added. "I-is the one you gave up your humanity for?"

The owl nodded.

"He sounds so afraid," Asgore commented. "But he doesn't need to worry. Whoever it is, we will believe it's him."

"You make it sound like we already know this person," the queen continued. "But why, may I ask, would we not believe it was really him?"

"Because," Ginger answered, in a voice so calm, her words made it eerie. "He's been dead for so long."

Everyone heard her reply to the queen's question, and they were all equally disturbed.

"Prepare yourselves as best you can," she continued. "Because I don't think _anything_ can _fully_ prepare you for what you're about to see."

The Barn Owl turned away from the other monsters, and stepped slightly towards the door leading back into the Throne Room to address her friend.

And as soon as she uttered his name, the king and queen's eyes widened, and they looked at each other in sheer disbelief.

"...Asriel," the young bird called. "You can come in now."

And from the Throne Room and into the dark corridor, almost as though his dust had spontaneously reassembled and risen from the flowerbed it had scattered across so long ago, the young prince finally emerged.


	42. Chapter 39: Double Reunion

It couldn't be.

It couldn't possibly be.

That couldn't be him, standing right there, with that innocent, sheepish look on his face that they knew and remembered all too well.

...But she said that it was.

She had told them that it really was, in every way she could think of.

She told them it wasn't a ghost. It wasn't a farce. The human-turned-owl said that he was the one responsible for their freedom. And that she met him. And knew him.

And **SAVED** him.

And then, finally, brought him back to them. And that he was real.

And it was...HE was.

"Um..."

The young prince was at a loss for words himself. The looks on his parents' faces conveyed several emotions; shock, denial, recollection, a twinge of horror...

...A twinge of joy.

He had to say something. What would you say to the people who saw you die? Who watched on in sheer horror as you fell forward, dusted and scattered across the garden? What were they thinking? Did they really believe it was him? Had Ginger really been able to prepare them enough? It didn't seem that way...But he couldn't just stand there staring at them forever.

"...H-hi, Mom...Hi, Dad," he finally said to them. "I, uh..."

He nervously shuffled one of his feet on the ground, barely realizing that his parents had shortened the gap between them to almost nothing.

"...I'm back. I...I missed you both."

His voice graced their ears, just as soft as they remembered it. Neither of them had thought they would hear it ever again.

But they were.

It was him. It was, really, really him.

Toriel put her hands over her mouth, her eyes glossing over with tears, and the king bent down, barely cupping his hands around the tiny monster's face. The prince's hazel eyes were glistening, too, and they were just as gentle and full of love as they'd ever been. He put his own paw against Asgore's.

That was the selling point.

"..._Asriel,_" the king finally said in a hoarse whisper.

"Y-yeah, Dad. It...I'm-"

"**_ASRIEL!_**"

They both practically shouted his name, His mother dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him in a bawling mess, and his father was quick to follow. He was here. They were touching him. Holding him. He was really here, in their arms again.

"It's...It's okay, guys," he squeaked, struggling to hold back his own tears. "It's okay, I promise it's okay..."

He repeated it over and over again, but to no avail against the waterworks.

Ginger stepped back, joining the crowd behind the three Boss Monsters.

"...kid...what'd you do?"

"Something I'm glad I did."

"SANS! WHO'S THE TINY ASGORE CLONE!?"

"I'll explain later, dude."

"But didn't he...He died."

"**DETERMINATION** is capable of a lot of crazy things, fish-face."

"I don't believe it...I...I-I think I'm gonna happy-cry!"

"Go right ahead; I won't judge."

Ginger tuned out the banter among her friends, and just watched the royal family share their reunion.

"How...!?" Toriel exclaimed. "You...you've been..."

"...Gone?"

"But you've come back to us...!" Asgore wept. "You've come back! It's like my entire broken world is coming back together!"

"I...I missed you guys so much..."

"How is this possible...?" Asgore whispered. "How on earth was this accomplished!?"

"i think we all have an idea who might be behind it."

As soon as the skeleton spoke, everyone's eyes turned down to the Barn Owl.

"...You said you saved him...This was indeed YOU'RE doing?" Toriel awed.

"I, uh, well...You could say I had a wing in it, but it's kinda comp-"

"It's a long story," Asriel squeaked, finally pulling away slightly from his parents. "When I-"

"Oh, never mind it," his mother told him. "Save it for later, Asriel. All that matters is that you're back, you're alive, you're here with us. This...This is more than either of us could have ever asked for."

She drew him right back to her. This was nothing short of a miracle.

Then, all of a sudden, Asgore rose up from where he kneeled, then approached the owl, bending before her and gently picking her up in his massive white paws and bringing her back to the rest of his family's group embrace. The other two Boss Monsters joined back in right away.

"I don't know how you did it, but..." Toriel trailed off.

"How can we ever thank you enough, young one?" the king asked. "This is incredible!"

It was odd, but despite their enormous size and strength compared to her, they were still more than gentle enough to keep from squishing her.

"Don't worry about it," she assured them. "I've already got back more than I could ever ask for myself, now that I'm back the way I used to be...Oh, hey!"

Her exclamation made them loosen their hold on her, and she fluttered to the ground.

"The sunrise! If we don't get out there, you guys are gonna miss it!"

"The...Oh! The sunrise!" the queen realized. "Oh, yes! Come along everyone, let's go out and see!"

"Lead the way, young hum-I-I mean...young owl," Asgore corrected himself.

"are you...egg-cited to see the surface again?" Sans remarked, to which Ginger smirked.

"Wow, Sans. That bird pun was..."

"OH, NO..."

"..._Owl-_tstanding."

"**OH! MY! GOD! YOU TWO ARE TERRIBLE!**"

"come on; you're smiling."

"IT'S A PITY SMILE!"

"Come on, guys, follow me! Last one out is a rotten egg!"

"**GINGEEEER!**"

"Chill out, Papyrus. If we're lucky, she'll flock off soon like the bird she is," Undyne remarked. "Now come on, dude, the sun's not gonna wait for us forever!"

"I'M ON MY WAY!"

"H-hey, guys! Wait for me, I'm not as fast as you!" Alphys called from behind everyone.

Ginger approached the stone gateway, emblazed at the top with the Delta Rune. All of her friends were behind her, and the Barrier was gone, revealing the clear image of the cliff jutting out of the mountain ahead. The stars had mostly disappeared, and the light coming up from beneath the horizon was quickly brightening.

She put one set of talons on the grassy ground just outside the gate, then the other. She had done this before, but as a human, and now she was stepping back out into the light as the Barn Owl she was born as.

She approached the edge of the cliff, and the seven monsters all followed her out of the Underground. For the first time, everyone except the monarchs tasted the crisp, fresh fall air of the outside world.

"wow...not too shabby."

"IT FEELS SO CLEAN AND FRESH!"

"Dang...This is SO much better than that dank cave atmosphere."

"Y-yeah! It is! Phufufu...I-it's kinda chilly, though, isn't it?"

"That's autumn for you, Alphy," Ginger replied. "Don't worry; it's not always this cool out, especially once the sun heats things up...Though, considering the time of year, it IS bound to get colder before it gets warmer."

"...Son," Asgore addressed. "You've...seen the surface before, too, right?"

"Yeah, but...I never really got to enjoy it like I am now."

"Alright, everyone. Brace yourselves..." the owl notified them.

They all turned their eyes eastward. The last remaining stars above faded, and the horizon began to brighten with a vast array of reds, pinks, violets and golds, the dark indigo-grey clouds striping the sky brilliantly clashing against the warm colors of the dawn, giving it a surreal quality. And then the tip of the yellow sun peeked out over the edge of the horizon, rising higher and higher, casting its warm light down on the equally colorful autumn landscape, and painting the dawn colors even brighter.

It was spectacular.

"It has been so long...How long, Asgore?"

"A thousand years, and then some," he answered the queen. "It might just be because of how long we've waited to see this, but...I don't think it's ever been more beautiful."

"Look at that...It's so colorful...!" Asriel marveled, stating the obvious.

"SANS...WHAT'S THAT BIG ROUND THING COMING UP OUT THERE?"

"we call that the sun, brother. what do you think?"

"_THAT'S _THE SUN!? WOW...I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING IT! I CAN'T WAIT TO WAKE UP TO THIS EVERY DAY!"

"Well," Ginger corrected. "Every day it isn't overcast or rainy."

"U-Undyne?" Alphys gasped. "A-are...Are you c-crying?"

"What!? NO!" the piscine creature defended, hastily wiping her face dry as everyone turned to face her, almost not believing she was capable of such. "I don't cry! I'm tough! I like to eat rocks! It's just..."

She sniffed, not caring about the cynical smirk Ginger was flashing at her.

"It's just that it looks so awesome, and this is what we've been working so hard to get after all these years, and...Aw, screw it! C' mere, Al'!"

With one swift swoop, she completely lifted the little yellow monster off her claws; her puckered lips were all Ginger needed to see to know what was about to happen.

"Oh, no...Asriel, look away-!"

They both turned towards the sunrise again, but not in time to avoid catching a quick glimpse of the two monsters locked in a passionate kiss. Asriel smiled nervously at the owl as she mimed a yarp.

Finally, at the sound of the telltale finishing *_Smack,_* she decided it was safe to look again. Alphys was back on the ground, red as a beet.

"S-sorry about that, guys. Heh...I was just sorta p-pulled into that. Literally."

"Erm...Ginger," Asgore started. "I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but...As you are from the surface world, and you know all of us...We will need to establish peaceful relations with mankind once we are found out, and...Seeing that you're from here...would you do us the honors of being the Ambassador of Monsterkind?"

"Me? Ambassador? Uh...Well, I'd love to, but...I'm not a human anymore. And, uh...the fact that I can talk like them...well...It sort of has to stay a secret. A lot of you guys are kind of like animals on the surface, so I guess I could tell you...Surface animals have been hiding away their intelligence from humans for years; ever since before the War of Humans and Monsters, really. If they were to find out, then...Well...Even more chaos. Especially on our end of the stick."

"Ah...I do see your point." the king nodded.

"If you ask me, you should be looking at Undyne."

"Erm...Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah. She'd make the perfect...Am-BASS-ador."

"oh. my god."

Sans chortled at the pun, and once again, Undyne had to be held fast onto to keep from staining her hands with avian blood. Ginger kept going, relishing every moment of the former Captain of the Royal Guard fuming in her friends' grasp.

"Yeah. If you're looking for skills, she's COD 'em. So she might PIKE your interest. She's a bit on the nasty side, though, so she might need a bit of a..."

"Bird, I swear to God!"

"TUNA-p."

"_**NGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

The scream would have rang out for miles, alerting every creature, man or beast, of the re-emergence of monsterkind, if Papyrus hadn't muffled it with his gloved hands.

"Oh, my..." the king exclaimed softly. From what he was seeing of his captain now, he was certainly glad it'd been a joke.

"But, uh...In all seriousness, your Majesty, if you're looking for someone to represent monsters for what they are, look no further than Papyrus."

"ME? AMBASSADOR OF MONSTERKIND?! WOWIE! IT'D BE AN HONOR!...IF, UH...THAT IS WITHIN YOUR BEST INTEREST, KING ASGORE."

"Actually, I think you'd make quite a fine Ambassador, Papyrus. Your enthusiasm and good nature will be key for negotiations of peace."

"REALLY!? W-WELL, THEN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR MONSTERKIND COULD HAVE EVER ASKED FOR!"

"That's the spirit, Papyrus!" the Barn Owl cheered.

"NOW! IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, EVERYONE, I MUST GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!"

And he bolted down the slope of Mt. Ebott, approaching the woodlands at its base.

"Uh-oh," Undyne remarked. "Hey, I don't know if it's a good idea to do it like that! Papyrus, wait!"

She bounded after him.

"H-hey! Undyne! D-don't leave me in the dust!"

Alphys scampered after them, her short legs going as fast as they would allow.

"...well. i guess someone has to stop 'em. see you guys."

Sans walked off...back into the mountain.

"Wait, Sans?" Toriel called. "What are you d-"

"He'll get to them," the owl reassured. "He has a, uh...way of doing things a little different than us. Don't worry."

The queen shrugged, then looked out at the sunrise again. The brilliant colors were beginning to fade into a soft blue, the dark clouds fading away, Only she, Ginger, Asgore and their restored son were left remaining outside the cave.

And then, Toriel suddenly jumped in realization of something.

"Oh, my goodness! Young one! I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?" she asked.

"Your organization! The, uh...Pure Ones, correct?"

"That's right."

"We need to get you back to them! I...I do believe two of them came looking for you while I was still in the Ruins!"

"They...Really? Did...They didn't fly down, did they?"

"No. But they did have a few words with me. They inquired about an owl that...looked exactly like you. But you were still a human at the time, so I was somewhat confused. Now that you are your normal self again, and we know what had happened, I think it wise we search for them!"

"That was pushing a week ago, though. I figured they'd have left by now, but...The meeting grounds. I need to check the meeting grounds!"

"Erm...Meeting grounds?" Asgore echoed.

"It's were we held the conference with the A.F.F. Small cluster of pine trees off to the southeast, by about eight miles. Hold on, I'll be right down!"

Ginger stretched her wings out and jumped off the cliff's edge, and what started as a graceful glide quickly turned into a powerful upward spiral, and it seemed like only a handful of seconds before she'd become a small brown speck in the sky above.

Having regained her powerful binocular vision, she scanned over the forest below for anything familiar. Far off in the east, she could see it as plain as the dawn they'd just witnessed; a small cluster of green needles nestled among the sea of reds, browns and golds that the leaves gave off. And when she looked even closer...

It looked like there were a few large birds flying about the area. Owls, hopefully.

"I see it!" she called down to them, and then she stooped into a dive, spun to level her flight towards the cliff again and landed before the king and queen's feet.

"I see it out there. It looks like there are still some of them hanging around. I can get there within five minutes if I hurry!"

"Well, then you best be off, child," Asgore cheered her.

"So..." Asriel hesitated. "...You're leaving?"

Ginger's ecstatic smile fell; she WAS leaving them. She had to back to her fellow birds, but...

When would she next see them all?

And come to think of it...she hadn't gotten to give everyone else a proper goodbye; they'd all left already.

Even more still...Would she ever see any of them again once she got back to the Owl Kingdoms? Odds were, after everything that'd taken place on the mainland as of late, they wouldn't be returning any time soon. And she couldn't involve the Tytonic Union with the monsters, could she?

...Could she...

...

...

...Why COULDN'T she?

The monsters knew the secret now, and some likely already did beforehand. Why couldn't she get the two forces-monsterkind and the Pure Ones-to become acquainted with one another? As long as nothing was said once the monsters intermingled with humanity, of course, but the monsters obviously knew how to keep secrets very well. And furthermore, if, for some reason, the humans lashed out at the monsters again, they might be able to help them!

"Guys, I have an idea."

"Pray tell, what is it?" Asgore inquired.

"Come with me. To the Pure Ones. I'll introduce you guys to everyone!"

"You do not suppose we will scare them, do you?" Toriel worried.

"I'll explain things to them before you make an entrance. But we'll have to get the other guys before we head on that way."

"allow me."

"Sans!?" Ginger exclaimed, swiveling her head back to face the skeleton behind her.

She almost overlooked how good it felt to be able to swivel her head around again.

"How long have you been here!? I thought you went to keep everyone else in check!"

"already took care of that. see?"

He pointed down the mountain, and it was revealed that all of the other monsters that'd raced off without them were coming back up to meet them again.

"Did they hear the plan?" Ginger asked him.

"don't think. i'll explain it to them once we're there...which way?"

"About eight miles away, to the southeast."

"Eight miles..." Asgore echoed. "That's a bit of a walking distance, is it not?"

"Well...Oh, boy. I forgot that you guys can't...

"hmm...say, to save us the trouble, you mind if i try somethin'?"

"What are you up to now?" Undyne asked skeptically as she stood beside him.

"here. everyone grab onto me. doesn't matter where, just do it."

Everyone complied. By the time they'd all done what Sans had instructed, he was barely visible beneath them all.

"SANS! WHAT IS THE MEANING IF THIS!?"

"everyone close your eyes for a sec...i might know a shortcut."

They all shut their eyes...

And they felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere, for just a moment.

"...i think it worked?" Sans surmised. "this the place, kid?"

"Did you do that...thing, Sans?" the Barn Owl asked him.

"yep. normally i can only get to places i've already been, but with the directions you gave me, i think it turned out alright."

Ginger freed herself first from the pile of monsters over the skeleton and looked up at the trees.

Pine trees. All of them. And above, she could see who one of the silhouettes she'd seen before really was.

"...Phillip."

"A friend of yours?" Toriel asked.

"Phillip? Is he nice?" Asriel added.

"I think he falls into that category pretty well," Ginger confirmed. "Let me go up there. Oh, boy, will he be in for a surprise."

"Don't give him a heart attack with that face, ya hear?" Undyne teased.

The owl shot her a vile look, and then she realized...

Some things would have to be said in order to make a decent enough impression on the higher ups.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," she told them all firmly. "Everyone needs to be on their best behavior in here, alright? Your majesties, don't delve into the whole human SOUL deal too far; just...Just the basics. And make nice, alright?"

"That won't be an issue," Toriel reassured.

The king looked a might uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Asgore..." the other Boss Monster addressed him sympathetically. "Do not fret. We will discuss things between us when we next get the chance, alright?"

"...Yes, Toriel."

"Okay...Sans, go easy on the puns. Papyrus, no snapping at your brother, and...maybe turn your volume down a tad."

"WILL DO, GINGER! I-EH...I MEAN...Heh...Will Do, Dear Friend."

"no puns...well, that's a downer."

"Hey, I said go easy on the puns, not 'don't make ANY'. Might lift any tension that might be there. Just don't go overboard."

"understood."

"Good. Alphys and Undyne...Uh...Oh...Oh, boy..."

If Nyra and Metal Beak found out about...THAT, the potential alliance might be nipped in the bud.

"For the sake of this meeting, you two are just friends."

"_What!?_ Why!?" the fish monster snapped. "It's not like they can-"

"Um...Actually, Undyne?" the raptor monster interrupted, motioning for her to bend down to her level before whispering something into her ear fin. The captain's expression contorted into a small, albeit surprised frown, and her eye popped open some before it narrowed.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she'd heard.

"Oh, _really...?_ So, what do these Pure One punks do to people like us, huh?" Undyne snarled, pointing an accusatory finger down at the somewhat deadpan bird.

"Nothing cruel or unusual, if that's your concern. The worst that can happen is gettin' fired...But anyway, that's the deal, alright, you two?"

"A-alright," Alphys agreed. "We can do that. Right, Undyne?"

The piscine beast huffed out a sigh.

"...Fine. But only because you two are such good friends," she spat at the owl.

"Great. Now...Time to alert everyone to my return. I might be a while, so hang tight, everyone, alright?"

Saying this, she spread her wings and flew up again. The young Sooty Owl was circling around the pine tree cluster, almost like a vulture, perhaps searching for Pure Ones to gather up for their departure. Ginger ascended up the atmosphere and followed after him, slowly rising higher to meet his altitude. It wasn't long until she was flying almost right alongside him.

Phillip saw movement from his starboard side, and turned his head that way to see just who had joined him.

And he nearly went yeep with surprise.

He let out a bit of a holler, and Ginger flew beneath him to keep the Greater Sooty from losing it all and falling to the forest floor. The young general lead him to one of the branches of the pine trees to perch, and she chose another one right across from him. By now, Phillip was beginning to regain his senses, and he scanned the Barn Owl up and down, just to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. But they weren't. She was here. And now a smile was making its way across his ashen face.

"You...You got out. You're free!" he exclaimed.

"Don't go tell it on the mountain just yet, Phillip, old buddy," she instructed him.

"How many were there!? Did they fight you!? Try to kill you!? Are they all goat people!?"

"Um...Oh, oh, the monsters! Right. Well, actually-"

"And what was with that big explosion noise in the mountain!? Uklah thought it was an earthquake at first, but when we realized where it'd come from, we...We thought that something might've happened to you, or the monsters down there, or..."

"Something did happen, Phillip," she confirmed. "That noise you heard wasn't an explosion; it was the Barrier."

"The...The Barrier? You mean that magic shield that keeps the monsters trapped underground?"

"Not anymore. What you heard wasn't anything normal. It was the sound of the Barrier being destroyed."

"Destroyed?"

"Destroyed. Shattered. Demolished. It's gone, Phillip. Mount Ebott's opened up for the first time since Hoole retrieved the Ember."

"So, there's no more Barrier. Does that mean the monsters are going to...come back?"

"Phillip." She scoffed. "...They're already here."

"What...?!"

"That's why I need to see the monarchs. Something's come up, and it's pretty important, so I'll have to explain the situation to them before we-"

"Wait, wait, wait, Ginger, hold on," the Sooty Owl interrupted her, looking concerned. "What do you mean 'they're already here'?"

"Just get me to the others first. I'll explain everything, I promise."

The Sooty Owl sighed, but ultimately followed the General's instructions.

"...Yes. I'll take you to them."

He flew deeper into the grove, and as they passed by, several voices from other Pure Ones rang out.

"Hang on. Who's that behind Phillip?"

"Is that...young Ginger?!"

"It is! It is the General!"

"She's back!"

"Someone tell the king and queen!"

The commotion going outside drew the two owls in question out into the open among the crowd. The Ablah General and High Tyto emerged from their private quarters in the center of the grove just in time to behold Phillip and the missing General Ginger alight on the branch before them. Their eyes bugged out at the sight of her, Nyra's especially.

"Y...young General...!?"

"In the flesh," she responded, spreading her wings out some.

"It is. It is you! You've come back!"

She and her mate were ecstatic, and they approached her, greeting her warmly, welcoming her back.

"...How did you escape?" the white Barn Owl finally asked. "And...What was that noise coming from the mountain? It sounded like a volcano exploding in there!"

"That wasn't a volcano. It was the Barrier. It's broken. Monsters are free."

The smiles faded from their beaks.

"...What did you say?" the High Tyto asked, just to be sure he had heard her right.

"Monsters are free, and...They're here. Right now, waiting on us."

"'Us?'"

"What's going on!? Is it true!? Is she here!?"

The voice came from behind; Ginger swiveled her head around to see Kludd coming in for a landing, Uklah in tow. All he had to do was meet her eyes, and the dull despair that'd been in his gaze for several days vanished, and was replaced by a shimmer of happiness.

"...Oh, praise Glaux!"

Both of them wrapped their wings around their returned leader, and she didn't hesitate to return it threefold. Vaygar flew in to asses the celebration, and he and Phillip were quick to join the group hug. Ginger beamed. This was real. She was actually back...

She didn't want to, but she wriggled out of the owls that'd piled themselves overtop of her.

"Hold on, guys. There's...Your Purenesses," she addressed, turning to the two monarchs. "I'll have to tell all of you what's going on. It's gonna be crazy, but I swear, this can be made into something VERY good, alright?"

"I believe I understand how important this might be," Metal Beak nodded.

"Alright, young owlets, don't drown out the General's words with your bantering!" Nyra screeched.

The other four owlets, who'd been streaming their praise and joy of the reunion without pause, suddenly and finally clacked their beaks shut.

"...Thank you. Alright, Ginger...Do tell me. Tarn and Phillip began the rumor that upon interacting with the Barrier, you were...somehow made human. Is this the case?"

"Well...I'll put that rumor to rest when I sat that...It's true."

A series of gasps rang out among the owls, and the other trainees began spilling questions again.

"What was it like?"

"Had you no gizzard!?"

"What was your first thought?"

"How did you turn back, then!?"

"Owlets, owlets, silence yourselves!" Nyra ordered again. "Save your questions for the end! She did just return, after all, so I doubt we would want to overwhelm the General, is that not true...? Agh...Carry on, Tyto. What went on beneath there, concerning you and the monsters?"

Ginger breathed in. This was going to take a while, for certain.

"Well...I guess it all started with a flower..."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...So now I'm back to normal, he isn't going to turn into a pile of sentient goop, and I brought them all here so we could maybe set something up between us."

"General, that was a dodgy move," Metal Beak scolded. "You are aware that these monsters are going to enter human society with the knowledge that owls, and all of the greater animal kingdoms, possess equal footing of intelligence to them, are you not?"

"I think a few of them knew already," she defended. "Some of these monsters are...well...essentially dogs on two legs. Besides, apparently, it wasn't me, but TARN and PHILLIP who were the first owls to make verbal contact with monsterkind. I was a human at the time."

"...True."

"So, what do you guys say? They're all waiting and eager to meet you guys."

"Well..." Nyra pondered, casting a glance off to the side. "I suppose, if they're already here, that we could see about this whole situation."

"Alright! Everyone follow me down to the ground, they should all be there!"

Ginger hopped off the branch and made a quick descent towards the forest floor, heading towards the outer rim of the pine tree grove.

"Hey! Hold on, I wanna see!" Kludd hollered as he followed after her.

Other Pure Ones in the surrounding area had heard the fuss beforehand, and two loyal slipgizzles turned their heads to see that General Ginger was leading a single-file line of owls down towards the ground. They exchanged glances.

"You suppose this involves the monsters, Allomere?"

"Quite so, Chief Valdimore," the Great Grey nodded. "I say we join them, see what's happening."

"Heigh ho, what's 'appenin' 'ere?"

Tarn was the next to emerge into the morning light from his hollow, and his gizzard pointed him in the directing of the owls gliding down through the trees, so he went after them himself to see just where they were heading.

"Steady, General, slow your flight!"

She was already quite a distance ahead of them, but she finally slowed down once she neared the earth, and not even a minute passed before they were all planting their talons down in the presence of...

"Good...Glaux in glamora..." Nyra marveled.

All of the other owlets were staring up, eyes nearly as wide as their own heads at the sight of the seven monsters looking down at them.

"...Salutations," the one in the front greeted, bending just a tad in their presence.

"...You..." Phillip realized, pointing a feather up at her, exchanging a quick glance towards an equally shocked Tarn. "...Y-you're the goat woman we talked to."

"You two are the ones who called down to me?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Tarn nodded, now shaking as he pointed to Asgore. "...And you're a goat man."

"I might as well be," the king humored.

"And you're a goat kid!"

Vaygar was the one to have said it.

"Yup."

"And you two are undead!" Uklah screeched, staring up at the skeleton brothers.

"WELL...I SUPPOSE THAT 'UNDEAD' WOULD MEAN 'ALIVE,' SO YOU'RE VERY MUCH RIGHT ABOUT THAT!"

"And you're ugly as sin," Kludd grimaced.

"Hey!"

Undyne was staring down at the buff with her own evil eye.

_Great minds think alike, it seems,_ Ginger said to herself, straining not to laugh at his reaction to the detestable fish monster.

Allomere was cautiously approaching the group of monsters, and found himself standing at the sickle-clawed feet of the Royal Scientist, in absolute awe. He pointed a shuddering wing up at her, looking back at the other owls.

"It's..." he stammered. "...That's a dinosaur."

"Uh...S-sort of."

"...Sir," the High Tyto rasped, eyeing the gold crown atop Asgore's head. "I...presume you would be the leader of this recently resurfaced race?"

"That would be right," he answered him. The Sooty Owl raised his feathery brow for a moment.

"Well, this is...This is certainly a far cry from the hideous savages I first pictured when I learned of the legends," he smirked.

Metal Beak was genuinely relieved that most of these monsters didn't look(or act) quite so barbarous. Even the reanimated human skeletons had an oddly friendly aura about them, and the one yellow monster even wore a lab coat and glasses; a sure sign of a sophisticated society.

"Are you the leader of these, erm...'Pure Ones'?"

"That would be a yes," he confirmed, his metal battleclaws clinking against each other as he stepped forward to extend a wing. "Lord Metal Beak; High Tyto of the Pure Ones."

"Oh, I see...King Asgore; King of Monsters."

The white paw met the dark wing in a formal shake. Nyra was the first to step forward.

"So...You are the one who Tarn and Phillip saw down the hole, were you, madame?" she inquired, addressing the monster queen.

"That is true...Queen Toriel; Queen of Monsters and former head of the Underground's Board of Education. It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

"As is with us. General Nyra; Ablah General of St. Aegolius, and second-in-command and queen of the Pure Ones."

They bowed courteously in the presence of each other.

"Young Ms. Wingren has told me some things about you all, and she made you out to be quite strong." Toriel continued.

"Well, she wasn't wrong, your Majesty. We have the majority of our eastern homeland territory in our favor, and I can see us gaining Kuneer and Silverveil in the near future. So, I assume this one is your son?"

Nyra now looked to Asriel, who was shyly staying close to his father.

"Um...Yes, your majesty," he greeted. "I...My name is-"

"Asriel Dreemurr, young man? Prince of the Underground, yes?"

"Y-yeah. That's right. I guess she told you?"

"The General? That she did, sir."

Asriel turned a bit pink; sure, he was prince of the Underground(emphasis on 'was', though) but he'd never been called 'sir' before.

"I hearsay that young General Ginger wishes to establish peace, and perhaps a potential affiliation between our two forces," Metal Beak stated. "So says the General, a race that has been sealed away for over a millennium, and even mostly forgotten about by almost all of humanity, may not necessarily be met with the warmest welcome from them. If there is one thing we know, it is that humans are unpredictable; some may embrace you, but some may lash out, and may even try to shove you back beneath that mountain. Ginger has suggested that we discuss what exactly went on beneath the mountain, and...I will admit, I was quite a bit skeptical at first, but seeing you all now, I believe I've made up my mind on it; you may be decent candidates for a Defense Pact."

"Defense Pact?" Toriel echoed.

"Yes, yes...We'll get into the nitty gritty during the conference."

"Conference?" Asgore repeated.

"Conference?" Nyra asked him again.

"Well, aren't we going to settle this all professionally? In fact, that is the very reason we came here in the first place; to establish international relations. Besides, the A.F.F didn't want our help, so maybe it could give us a chance to aid another force. King Asgore. Would you care for your subjects here to accompany us to the center of the pine tree grove? Small bare patch, right in the center; that's were we held our discussions between the eagles and us."

"That reminds me," Ginger chimed in. "Did the eagles leave already?"

"That they did; they have their own business to attend. The only ones left here are a couple messengers sent to study us for a while. They knew about the situation with you in the mountain, and a few of them even tried to fly down there shortly after Tarn and Phillip finished what they were doing up there. The Commander and I had to stop them; we wouldn't have wanted another soldier to have gone through what you did."

"That wouldn't have been good."

"Well, then...Monsters, follow me," the Sooty Owl alerted them as he made his way back into the pine trees. "We've a meeting to hold."

* * *

**A.N: We're wrappin' it up here! Wonder how this conference is gonna go?**

**So, anyway, before I leave, I wanted to say that I had an idea for another Undertale fanfiction, but I'm not sure what kind of reception it'll be met with...If I decide to publish it, you'll know it when you see it, but whatever. I'm glad this one's almost done; I think I accomplished a lot with it.**

**Hey, thanks again for readin'! See ya next chapter! :D**


	43. Chapter 40: A Very Special Conference

Monsters and Pure Ones alike gathered on each side of the tiny clearing amidst the towering pines. All three members of the Dreemurr family stepped forward along the edge of the clearing to face the Pure One monarchs and the General, who had perched of some of the convenient lower branches of the smaller trees growing there so that they could match the monster's superior height. All other lower ranks were stationed around and behind them.

"Alright, let's start this off with a few questions. You can probably imagine that I'm quite curious about all of this," the High Tyto began. "First off, how exactly did it happen that your kind was imprisoned for a thousand years?"

"Well...What really triggered the war was the humans' discovery that we monsters were capable of absorbing human SOULs. A monster with a human SOUL is an incredibly powerful being; potent enough to wipe out an entire village with one snap...Although, no monster at the time likely had the thought of that. A monster at the time did absorb a human SOUL, but only briefly before freeing it. That was how the humans of that time first found out about it, and...They decided that it made us a threat. I do see where their fears stemmed from, but to have defeated us in near-genocidal war, then taking us across the sea to the new land that'd been recently discovered...I don't know, don't you think that might be a bit on the extreme side?"

Asgore finished with a light chuckle.

"Strange...Erm...Where did you monsters first live before you were taken...here?"

"Most of monsterkind lived within Scandinavia. At the time, rumors were spreading at the time that someone had discovered a new territory off to the far west, and once we'd been defeated in the war, that was where we were sent; the remaining hundred of us were loaded up in ships and taken across the ocean. They recruited the seven most powerful mages at the time to construct the Barrier to seal us away Underground. They thought that if we did manage to re-emerge, the tribal humans living here would finish us off...Erm...Do you know if there still any humans of such kind living here?"

"What? The Native Americans?" Ginger asked. "Oh, no, no, they've long since integrated and joined the rest of humanity."

"And what of this land we live on now?" Toriel inquired. "When we first arrived it was essentially all wilderness. Seeing all of the things that came through to the garbage dump that monsterkind has come to utilize for our own use over the course of many years, I should think that humans have long since colonized this place, correct?"

"That it has been, and this place is just as well-off as advanced as the rest of the human world," Metal Beak confirmed. "Supposedly even MORE so, actually, in many regards...So says fellow bird Commander Scott, that is."

"As of you, and your homeland," the monster queen continued. "Ginger once stated that you, the Pure Ones, were a primeval force yourselves. How much so?"

"We're owls. We've lived in harmony with the wilderness for centuries upon centuries. We may be primeval compared to most of the outside, but it is that simplicity that maintains the balance within the Kingdoms. We discussed it with the eagles just a week prior; the introduction of high-grade technology and weaponry into the setting of the Owl Kingdoms would upset the balance. Not to mention, if it somehow got into the wrong set of talons, havoc would surely ensue...Which brings up another point. Besides the whole human SOUL absorption thing, have you monsters ever developed any particularly destructive weapons?"

"Weapons?"

"Dear, goodness me..." Asgore exclaimed softly. "Well, typically, the only 'weapons' we wield are those made of our own magic. And it is common for them take the form of those that can be handcrafted."

"Magic...Ah, yes, yes. I had a feeling you monsters had a heavy affiliation with the practice."

"It isn't just the practice," Toriel stated. "We monsters are actually _made_ mostly of magic."

The monarchs' eyes widened some more, and there was some indistinct chatter among the Pure Ones behind them.

"...You're quite serious?" Nyra asked.

"Quite so. And it is from our own composition that we can harness and manipulate that magic for our own use. Like so."

As on queue, she rose a paw and summoned a flickering orange and gold fireball just above her palm. At the sight of it, the owls beholding the sight gasped, and all except Ginger herself either leaned or backed away from the potentially dangerous flames.

"Oh, do not worry yourselves," the queen reassured them. "I am able to control the temperature of these flames at my own accords. Ha...You may or may not believe it, but I could very easily make these flames cool enough for one to put their hand right in and not be burned in the slightest...Care to demonstrate, Asgore?"

"Wh-Me? Well, ah...A-alright."

The owls watched in horrified anticipation as the monster king stuck a paw right into the flames...But he didn't even so much as flinch, and when he extracted his hand, it was completely fine; the white fur on it hadn't even been slightly singed. Metal Beak was especially in awe.

"...It's incredible..." he whispered hoarsely. "...What else can you do...?"

"Mind if I step up to the plate?"

Undyne broke through to the front of the crowd, then summoned her spear in a quick flash and proceeded to twirl the weapon like a flagpole before the owls. More chatter came from the Pure Ones; some were amazed, and even thrilled by this, and others were even intimidated by the fierce aura that this magic weaponry gave off.

"Asgore's trident is cooler, trust me," Ginger whispered to Kludd, who was perched not far behind her.

"...Sorcery," Allomere concluded, actually seeming quite a bit concerned by the monsters' magical abilities. "How long has your kind wielded this power?"

"Well, for as long as we can remember, really," Asgore answered him. "Erm...I don't suppose you owls don't have any affiliation with magic, does it?"

"Not since the time of the Legends," the Ablah General replied. "Magic of both kinds has mostly died out over the past several centuries, with any remaining mages being few and far between nowadays...What exactly, may I ask, do you use your magic for, besides warfare?"

"Oh, all sorts of things," Toriel beamed. "Fire magic works especially well in the kitchen."

"Interesting...What else?"

"how's this for show?"

The smaller of the two skeleton brothers took a step forward, and his left eye flashed blue.

And then, without warning, Allomere rose right off of his branch without so much as a wingbeat!

"Wait-Wh-What is this!?"

"surprise."

All of the owls watched in utter amazement as he was lifted up by the feet and turned upside down as though he'd been fastened to a clothesline to dry out.

"Sir, I demand to know the meaning of this!"

"hey, they asked."

"SANS, WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR NOT EVEN TEN MINUTES AND YOU'RE ALREADY MAKING A BAD IMPRESSION!"

"come on; this ain't overboard."

"WELL, IF THIS ISN'T 'OVERBOARD,' THEN I'M AFRAID TO KNOW WHAT YOUR IDEA OF 'OVERBOARD' IS!"

Allomere groaned, rolling his slate-grey eyes. At east he knew that this little practical joke was only made in good fun.

"Would you at least care to put me down?" he asked.

"huh? oh, yeah, sure. i won't leave you hangin'."

Sans lowered the owl back onto the branch and allowed him to grasp it in his talons.

"Yes, yes...Pun intended?"

"absolutely."

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN..."

"They can manipulate the outer world with their own minds..." Metal Beak realized.

"well, that's just me, really. don't know anyone else who can. it, uh...only comes around to a select few, i think."

"Is that so?"

"yep."

_Magic weaponry..._ the Sooty Owl marveled. _The Guardians of Ga'Hoole would be cowering at our talons with that on our side._

"Ah...How effective is this magic against opponents? Does it have a different effect on more physical beings as it does your own kind?"

"Well, kids might get into scuffles now and then and use their weaker magic against each other," Asgore told him. "But we're all aware that if it's used the right way, magic can be deadly. To human, monster and...well...really any other living thing. We have certain laws in place that prohibit the use of specially formed magic bullets against each other; those are the dangerous kind. Just a few hits can dust someone in a snap."

"'Dust'?"

"Oh, yes...I suppose you didn't know. When a monster dies, the magic constructing their body dissembles, and...The small amount of physicality our bodies have takes the form of a white, sort of powdery substance. Almost like..."

He shuddered.

"...Baking flour. Never thought I'd make that analogy...How morbid."

"At least you don't have to deal with the smell of decay," Nyra remarked. "...Well, my Lord, I think it safe to assume that it isn't nachtmagen that they wield."

"Uh...'Nachtmagen'?"

"Dark magic. Hagscraft," the High Tyto explained. "Used by the hagsfiends in the time of the Legends. Vile creatures, they were; half owl and half crow, and they did the most despicable things; transforming innocent owlets into their own kind against their will to increase their numbers, seeking to destroy all owlkind with their powers...Well...One would have to read the Legends themselves to fully grasp it, but trust me. And what I've seen here is nothing of the sort...except maybe the whole business with the Barrier, and young Ginger having to live in the pelt of a human for several days. Shapeshifting magic was a staple of the hagsfiends."

"But the Barrier was constructed by humans, not monsters," Ginger defended. "And monsters didn't really aid in its construction."

"Yes, that part I remember from Commander Scott explaining the tale to me...Seven human mages, right? But I find it hard to believe that they made it with the intention for it to turn one creature into something entirely different..."

"I, uh, I-I could be wrong, y-your, um...Your Pureness, sir, but I do have a hypothesis."

The king and queen of monsters parted, and the comparatively small creature in the lab coat stepped forward, somewhat shakily, to face the High Tyto.

"What do you propose, Doctor?" Asgore inquired.

"W-well...This might be a little 'out there,' but, hey, e-even we monsters don't f-fully understand how magic works...Um...So...I've been thinking, and I thought that the initial transformation might have something to do with the subject's...DETERMINATION? A-and how it interacted with the magic composing the Barrier, maybe?"

Metal Beak was confused by this.

"What would one simply being determined have to do with anything?"

"Oh, well, y-you see, DETERMINATION is far more than just an emotional trait. It is an actual substance, th-that resides within the SOUL. It's the very thing that gives one the will to live, a-and go on, even when facing a life-or-death situation. It's what allows the SOULs of humans t-to persist after the death of the host...SOULs vary in the traits they imbue, though, s-so some might have more DETERMINATION than others...But all human SOULs have it to some degree. And...um...I have a question."

"Ask away."

"Do the SOULs of owls last after death? I, um...don't know how much DETERMINATION your kind possesses, so..."

Alphys trailed off, and the old Sooty Owl saw the beads of sweat forming along her brow.

"They do, in fact. But they do not always remain in the mortal realm. Most of them pass on to the afterlife...Though there are several exceptions. If an owl has any unfinished business on earth, their SOULs stay here in the form of a scroom, and have a living owl, perhaps a loved one or another acquaintance, carry out their duties for them before they depart for the next life. Where we live, there is actually a specific place for these disembodied spirits to congregate: the Peninsula of the Spirit Woods."

"So...Your SOULs do indeed p-possess the DETERMINATION to live on after death?"

"Well, don't yours as well? You obviously possess the mental capacity to harbor such; you aren't lowly worms."

"No, we aren't," Asgore agreed. "But the thing is...Most monsters typically possess very little, if any DETERMINATION at all. Our SOULs are extremely weak compared to those of owls or humans. Once our bodies die, our SOULs follow suit. They shatter and disperse into nothingness."

The High Tyto and his mate looked particularly disturbed by this.

"...So what you mean to say is..." the Ablah General confirmed. "When a monster dies, there IS nothing for them beyond the mortal realm? The conscious state of being simply... ceases to exist?"

"I'm afraid so. Only the SOULs of we Boss Monsters can persist in the outside world...and even so, only for a few moments before shattering."

Silence shrouded the owls. They were horrified for the monsters by this aspect; yes, there were owls who were skeptical about the existence of Glaux, but how could one go on living knowing for absolute certain that there was nothing for them beyond death? No glamora for the good and just to be given peace? No hagsmire for the evil and corrupt to be brought to justice? Just...eternal oblivion?

"And...You aren't the least bit bothered by this?"

"Well...Not typically. In fact, we consider eternal rest a state of peace. No more suffering, no more sorrow...Even if it IS a bit unnerving to think about constantly. But isn't the death of any other creature a heavy topic?"

"Yes, I...suppose that's true..." Metal Beak finished. "...Where were we...? Oh, yes. You. Doctor. Where were you going with your theory on shapeshifting?"

"Oh, yeah. Um...I-I was thinking that maybe Ginger's SOUL, since it has a f-fairly high concentration of DETERMINATION, might have had some sort of magical reaction with the Barrier. S-surface animals don't typically pass through, unless it's, like, a-a snail or a bug or something; never the intelligent type we're talking about. The Barrier's pretty well-hidden, s-so not a lot of creatures would be able to find it...Except her. Anyway, if the SOUL of an intelligent animal is enough akin to that of a human, th-the Barrier could have p-potential to cause a reaction between the SOUL and the host body, which might have been what made her human...Of course, I-I don't know f-for sure, and it's just a s-speculation, but...If you wanted an answer to that question, then...that could be the case."

"That actually sounds pretty plausible," Ginger accepted. "At least...It makes sense compared to some of the OTHER things I've seen."

"I suppose it doesn't matter now, though," Nyra decided. "Seeing that the Barrier is gone, and our General is back to normal."

"C-come to think of it, Ging'..." Alphys continued. "How exactly did you find the opening to the cavern?"

"It might be easier to spot from above ground. I was flyin' pretty high when I came across the mountain, so that might have had something to do with it. There is a lot of vegetation in and around the entrance, so I can understand why it might be hard to find on foot. Not to mention the tripping hazard the vines cause for larger creatures, like humans and bigger wildlife. At first glance it just looks like an empty cave, since you can see the back wall from the opening, so I doubt many people would have found it and tried to go down the hole...But my curiosity got the best of me; I peered down the hole, saw a bed of flowers and decided to fly down there and check it out, since I thought I knew for ABSOULTE SURE that I would be able to fly back up. The next thing I know, I've traded my wings out for a pair of sticks with hands at the ends."

"So you finally admit it, huh?" Undyne teased.

"Yeah, well, that was when I took it personally. These aren't exactly sticks anymore," Ginger countered, spreading her wings for emphasis.

"Eh...Touché."

"This brings up the issue of the inhabitants of the mountain themselves," the High Tyto stated. "King Asgore, how many monsters live in the Underground?"

"The population is just under five hundred, I'd say, three fifths of which live in the capital. New Home has been suffering from increasing population density as of late, though, so a lot of its residents were planning to move into the less crowded areas of the Underground, such as Hotland and Waterfall...But now that the Barrier is finally gone, I don't think that will be an issue anymore. I'm glad of that; I'm afraid to know what might have happened in another few decades, with the population expanding faster. Even with the policies I enforced to stabilize our growth in numbers, it would have still gotten out of hand at some point."

"And, what of natural resources? How much does one monster need to sustain itself?"

"Not much; having lived underground for so long, we've become fairly resourceful creatures. Over the span of many centuries, we've learned how to use our magic to do a lot of things that would otherwise be impossible without sunlight or natural weather, and we've learned to extract food, water, and even building materials from the caverns...Come to think of it, this might have something to do with our taste for snail."

"So...Are you an agricultural people?"

"Farming? Oh, there's very little room for cultivating land en masse; most monsters prefer to grow food themselves on their own property. Yes, they do usually end up having enough to go around, but it isn't exactly 'agriculture,' being on such a small scale."

"Wait...So, you guys don't have cows, or sheep or anything like that?" Ginger asked them. "I mean, I didn't see any, but I didn't go over every single place down there."

"No, nothing big like that."

"But then where does your meat and cheese come from?"

Sans scratched the back of his head for a moment before giving the answer.

"...usually rabbits."

"So...That burger I had at Grillby's...was rabbit?"

"it usually is."

"Oh...Well...No wonder I liked it so much."

"Creatures as big as you can survive on rodents, as we owls do?"

"What can I say? We know how to use what we've got," Asgore affirmed.

"...Well...That is certainly...impressive, to say the least. Erm...Anyways. What about your advancements in technology? The General told us you were on par with humans on some things, but since you've been living beneath a mountain for so long, I'd like to know how this is possible."

"Well, we actually get a lot of our technology from humans themselves; what we find in the garbage dump is enough to work with."

"Your queen mentioned the garbage dump earlier...What exactly is this place?"

"Oh! I-I can tell you about it!"

Again, Dr. Alphys stepped up to the Pure One leaders.

"The garbage dump is our only window into the outside world! A lot of the things humans throw away ends up caught in an underground system of flowing water that leads into the Underground! W-we would often come across old machine parts, o-or stuff like that, and using what we had, we would utilize the technology for our own use! Heh...Y-you'd be pretty surprised at some of the things the humans consider garbage; quite a bit of it is actually in pretty good shape! Scrap metal, tools, DVDs, consoles, books, i-in fact that's actually where I found most of my anime, a-and...uh..."

She trailed off when she saw that Nyra and Metal Beak were looking at her in a peculiar way.

"Well...Y-you get the idea your Majest-I-I mean your Purest-I MEAN-"

"Gracious," Nyra exclaimed mildly. "And to think I made you out to be the quiet type."

"Once you get her talking about stuff at the garbage dump, it's hard to get her to stop."

"Undyne...!"

The fish monster's remark made her go pink again. The High Tyto gave off a hearty churr; he was beginning to find some of this amusing.

"Well...If we have anymore questions involving science, we'll know who to ask."

"Ah, thank you, sir. Heh...Eh..."

She stepped back, wiping some of the sweat from her head.

"And, eh...The growth of your population," Metal Beak added. "How fast do you monsters reproduce?"

"Well, I have enstated a two-child policy within the past year," Asgore answered. "That's the maximum families are allowed, at least at one time underneath the same roof. It was an attempt to try and slow the increase of our numbers; even if we are resourceful, too many monsters trapped underneath one mountain would eventually result in the drainage of resources and, henceforth, decline in living standards...Lack of living space, swift spread of disease, starvation from inefficient food supply...I wanted to avoid this gruesome potential for our species' extinction as best I could."

"I see your concern...Well, just in case, your Majesty, don't repeal that policy just yet. It may prove useful for my plan."

"Plan? Erm...What did you have in mind, your Pureness?"

"I'll explain it in good time, King Asgore...Now. You say that your bodies are mostly magic instead of pertaining to the physical elements."

"Yes. Although it takes on the form of organic matter. We have beating hearts, blood that flows through our veins, other organs...The only substantial difference from magical and physical beings is that magical beings are defensively weaker. If a different entity has a will enough to harm, and is strong enough against them, it is very easy to injure, if not kill a monster. Usually, only those of our kind with substantial armor, or battle training under their belts stand much a chance against physical opponents."

"Hmm...So, say monsterkind is attacked by a pack of wild animals; coyotes, pitch devils, or even a rare horde of raccoons. Would you be able to counter this?"

"Wild animals? Likely so. Although it might cause quite a bit of damage...and likely result in a few casualties, depending on the ferocity of the creature in question."

"What, may I ask, is a pitch devil?" Toriel asked. "I have never heard of such a thing...It sounds dreadful."

"Pitch devils are carnivorous marsupials. Their pelt is black as pitch, hence the name, save for a usual white stripe across the chest, and their ears turn bright red when they get angry...which is a lot of the time. They're extremely aggressive; supposedly they don't do this on the other island they inhabit, but in the Owl Kingdoms, it's common for them to hunt in packs of up to nine or ten. They'll pick off an easy meal whenever they get the chance, including grounded owls, and their jaws are strong enough to crush solid bone."

Ginger heard Papyrus whimper from the back of the monster crowd.

"H-HOW BIG ARE THESE PITCH DEVILS YOU SPEAK OF?" he inquired, shaking in his boots.

"A bit smaller than a badger," he answered. "Actually, they may not pose that great a threat to your kind unless you invade their territory first; you yourself could probably kill one just by stepping on it hard enough. Ha!"

"OH...WELL...THAT'S A BIT HARSH, WOULDN'T YOU SAY?"

"Harsh?" Metal Beak echoed. "Well...I suppose it would be, for a race that is peaceful among its own citizens, that has been locked away from external threats for many long centuries...But now that you are on the surface, I must warn you; your kind may be free, but freedom comes at the price of the new dangers you now face up here. It does not matter if you are accepted into human society by the majority or not; you WILL have enemies. Whether they will decide to make their presence known sooner or later is up for debate, but let me tell you now, EVERY race, EVERY class of species, EVERY organization, big or small, and EVERY individual has enemies of some sort, be they few or many in number. You will have to protect yourselves from the likes of humanity, the elements, and even wildlife, in one aspect or another."

Asriel nodded solemnly. He knew this first hand.

"So...You have poor defenses, yet considerable attacking abilities. So, then, your approach to a battlefield would be sort of a 'glass cannon' strategy?"

"Well, we haven't faced an all-out battleground with full legions of enemy soldiers since the War of Humans and Monsters. We did employ such a strategy at the time, but we weren't able to keep up with the humans' durability and sheer power in numbers; there were too many for us to stand much of a chance, if we ever had one."

"I see..."

"Our defenses are somewhat better than they once were, however. We are fairly hardy against the environment, and my Royal Guard unit has gone through heavy defensive training over the past decade in preparation for..."

He faltered some, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"...Something...I had planned earlier on."

"Oh, really?" Metal Beak perked up, now intrigued. "What exactly were you training up your soldiers for?"

"Well..."

He turned to Toriel for permission to explain himself to the Pure Ones, and she gave him a solemn nod in response, the expression on her face a strange mixture of seriousness and sympathy. He then looked to the owl they'd all befriended, and she, too, signaled her consent.

"...I will not lie to you," he began, his head hanging lower. "...My hands, and those of a few others are smeared with human blood."

His voiced cracked on the last word, and there was instant chatter among the Pure Ones in the assembly. Asgore picked up some of what them were saying about the whole ordeal; fearing what the humans would do if they found out, debating whether or not they could intervene in such a situation, wondering if there was any way for him to cover it up somehow...praising his bold actions in what they said was a dark time for the monsters.

Not one. Not a SINGLE owl in that parliament was chastising him for his horrible crime against humanity.

Asgore was extremely confused, and even disturbed by this. Didn't these owls acknowledge that what he'd done was terrible? Yes, they were owls, so they might not see the killing of humans as vulgar as that of their own species, but even so...! They knew humans were the dominant species across most of the earth, so why were they so...casual about this? They seemed more worried over what might happen to him BECAUSE of it than the actual issue itself.

"Asgore, may I ask how deep the hole leading to the Underground from the cave is?" the High Tyto inquired.

"I...I suppose between three and four hundred feet? The humans that perished in the Underground survived the initial fall; there is a bed of Golden Flowers just at the bottom of the chasm that is strong enough to break one's fall well enough to allow for survival."

"Aha! Perfect; if they ask you about it, just gloss over that detail and tell the humans that the ones who fell just died on impact. A human could fall a mere FORTY feet and be killed, they're so heavy and clumsy. If the drop is four hundred at most, surely they'll buy it. Just be sure to dispose of any bodies if there-"

"Metal Beak."

The Boss Monster addressed the Sooty by name, earning his immediate attention. It took him a moment, but he soon noticed the tears burning in the monster's blue eyes.

"...Don't you know what I've done?" he asked him, almost as though he was pleading for him to scorn him. "I killed an innocent child. And ordered the death of five others to harvest their SOULs...Y-you aren't bothered by the fact that I..."

He trailed off, and held back the urge to sob as best he could, but with little success.

"Sir, are you quite-"

The Sooty stopped short when Asgore buried his face in his paws and turned away from him.

"Dad...?"

"Oh, Asgore..."

His wife and child embraced him as he spilled his tears for the fallen children. Undyne placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and tried to improve the situation.

"Hey, come on, big guy...You did it for us. It'll be fine."

"But at what cost...?"

Allomere emitted a commiserating sigh as he beheld what played out before the party of owls. Nyra and her king exchanged glances with one another, then turned their gaze to the young General.

"...He never really wanted to do it," she whispered to them. "...But he felt obliged to, since...He thought it was his duty."

"Well..." Metal Beak replied. "...It was."

He looked back up towards the monster king; by now he had pulled himself together to some extent, and was turning back to face the band of Pure Ones.

"...My apologies, your Purenesses," he said to them, voice still creaking some. "That was...unprofessional, to say the least."

"I will pardon that," the owl nodded. "But may I say something in response to this ordeal?"

The king of the Pure Ones stepped slightly further forward on his branch, and the morning sunlight shone down through the treetops slightly more, highlighting the intricate engraving on his mu metal mask.

"It is clear to me that you are a merciful creature at heart," he began. "And in doing what you have done, you have violated your own code of morale for the greater good of your people...But that is exactly what we, as Pure Ones, find so noble of you. In putting your own ideals aside, you ultimately acquired the power needed to free your kind. That, sir, is dedication to a cause. And dedication to a cause is a core value of ours, here among the Tytonic Union."

Asgore was silent; he wasn't sure how to respond to all of this.

"And another question," the owl continued. "Yes, you say that all of the humans that fell were children...But as I said before, they are a naturally rash and impulsive species. Did any of them pose a threat at all? Perhaps a ludicrous question, but...I have had the displeasure of facing youth soldiers in combat, so I see it as necessary."

_A threat..._

"I will not lie about that, either," Asgore stated. "...Yes. Two of the six humans actually...dusted quite a few monsters and caused injury to many."

Toriel's eyes grew wide at this revelation; she could not believe, for the life of her, what she was hearing.

"You're not serious..." she whispered to him. Her voice was barely audible, but it had a deathly tone about it. But Asgore's solemn nod paired with the mournful light in his eyes proved that he was indeed telling the truth.

"I have camera footage of some of these events stored away for analysis...But for now, please take my word. The SOUL of Integrity fought her way through most of Snowdin and Waterfall before falling at the hands of then Lieutenant Undyne."

On queue, his Royal Guard Captain stepped up beside him and summoned a spear.

"Didn't even know what hit her. Promise," she assured him.

"The SOUL of Justice is the most recent human death. He, too, fought his way through the Underground; either shot or threatened everything that came to face off against him without a second thought, and was apprehended by Undyne in Waterfall."

Toriel put her paws over her mouth, shaking her head in denial of this shocking revelation.

"Dude put up a good fight," Undyne nodded. "And...well...I didn't exactly get off scot-free."

That was when, with the flick of her index finger, the fish monster flung open the patch over her left eye.

A series of gasps came from every owl, including the General herself, at the sight. Where the captain's eye should have been, there was instead a messy, gaping hole, filled in with gnarled scar tissue. The scaly skin in and around the battle scar was a deep russet red as opposed to her uniform teal blue.

"Sheesh..." Ginger muttered to herself. "Did you _have_ to show if off?"

As though she heard her, Undyne flipped the patch back down to cover the unsightly picture. Nyra and Metal Beak exchanged glances once more, and then the latter turned to face the monster king and his captain once again.

"So you not only collected the SOULs...but also saved your species from further harm on two occasions? At the risk of death and disfigurement?"

They both nodded.

"Heh heh...I'm familiar with this. Very familiar. King Asgore, I swear to you, as the supreme leader of the most powerful military organization in the Owl Kingdoms, that the things you and your captain have done were no less than the duty to your people. You fight for not only your freedom, but your own safety underneath the surface world. To battle against any danger to those you stand for is something that makes a leader. It's not heartless, it's not despicable, and in this case, it's not even warmongering for your own gains. It's merely doing what's right! And doing it again, and again and again, however many times it need be!"

He rose his port set of talons up to his helmet, and then, with one swift motion...

"...Even if someday, you end up looking like THIS."

All of the owls behind and around him, ESPECIALLY Ginger and her fellow trainees, gasped even louder at the sight they now beheld. A sight that none of them thought they would ever have the chance(or honor) of seeing.

The High Tyto Metal Beak.

_Unmasked._

All of the monsters stared at him, eyes wide as saucers. The Sooty Owl's face was horribly mutilated; one side of his facial disc had lost a good deal of its ashen feathers, and the other side sported a jagged scar going down his clouded, blinded eye. But the focal point of the image was his beak...Or the lack thereof. Most of the upper mandible was entirely gone, save for the unevenly broken stump of it.

"A shight for shore eyesh, no?" he remarked, now placing the mask back on his head in order to speak properly. "Well...You know first hand that sometimes victory comes at a price, Captain Undyne."

"H..." Asgore stammered. "...How did-"

"Battle of the Ice Claws. Over twenty years ago," the owl answered. "Lyze of Kiel was more formidable on the battlefield than he made himself out to be."

"So that's why they call you Metal Beak," the fish monster commented. "...Actually, that looked pretty rad."

The High Tyto churred again; it wasn't everyday that his facial disfigurements received a compliment.

"Thank you for this information, your Majesty, and Captain," the owl continued. "That is all I need to know about the issue...King Asgore. On behalf of the Pure Ones, I would like to make an offer to you and your people."

"What would that be?"

"Say the humans discover what was done under the mountain, and things end up going south for you...You wouldn't have any place to evacuate to. You said it yourself; besides the territory of Scandanavia across the Atlantic Ocean, you are unfamiliar with the geography of the outside world as we know it today, and wouldn't know where to begin."

"That is true. And you say that humans have since colonized nearly every habitable landmass on earth?"

"All but one."

All eyes, owl and monster, turned to the High Tyto.

"Corporal Spyke," he ordered. "Fetch the maps from my designated quarters."

One of the owls, whose face was hidden behind a uniform iron helmet, nodded, spread his wings, and flew into the treetops.

"Right, well...As I was saying, as a last resort, if necessary, my idea was to have you monsters take refuge from humanity in the Owl Kingdoms themselves."

"My lord, you aren't serious," Nyra gasped.

"Hear me out, my queen," he whispered to her. "This could be potential for militaristic symbiosis. Even BETTER than that with the eagles."

"Where exactly are these Owl Kingdoms, your Purenesses?" Toriel inquired.

"You'll get a bigger picture shortly. Quite literally; the maps will tell us everything we need to know."

"My Lord..." Nyra whispered to her mate. "You ARE aware of what exactly you are disclosing to these mainlanders, right?"

"They may not be mainlanders for too long, if the humans have anything to say about it...Besides, if the eagles know about us, why can't these desperate creatures?"

"The A.F.F. is a fellow organization of birds hidden from humanity. These monsters have had contact with humans in the past, and plan for more; what if the secret gets out?"

"Why would they have any reason to talk about us? Ginger said it herself; they can keep their secrets remarkably well."

"Well, I would be more comfortable if we had more than just her word."

"And where do you expect to get proof?"

That was what made Nyra go quiet. Asgore and Toriel pretended not to pay any attention to the argument, and just cast each other an awkward shrug.

"And furthermore, the humans have not been able to find the island for as long as it has existed, with it being hidden by the forces of both the natural and supernatural; what makes you think they could now?"

"...I suppose you have a point. But I still say we cross that bridge with caution, should we ever reach it."

That was when a screech sounded from above; Corporal Spyke was coming in for a landing, and in his armed talons, he carried several scrolls of parchment.

"The maps, your Pureness. As requested," he said, placing the scrolls on the ground. just below him.

"Excellent."

Metal Beak flew down to the forest floor from his branch, followed by Nyra and Ginger. He unfurled one of the four parchments, displaying a map of only one Owl Kingdom: the Beaks, where the Pure Ones made their home base.

The king and queen of monsters sat down on the forest floor to get a better look at the maps, Asriel peering over his father's shoulder. He spied several interesting-sounding places pointed out on the map; Pure One Palace, Half Spire, Oasis of the Mirror Lakes, and several others.

"Now...We, the Pure Ones, are situated right here," the Sooty Owl stated, his black claw tapping the large spire on the map labeled as the Palace. "The Beaks is about eight thousand square miles in area, with most of the population of 3000 owls being the Pure Ones inhabiting the palace itself...Now, listen here. There's a small parcel of flat land of about five hundred acres just northeast of the Palace that is bare and uninhabited. I've been pondering what to do with it for a while, since it's just sitting there not being useful at all...Now that this issue has come up, I may be willing to grant it to you monsters if it's big enough. You said there were about five hundred of you, right?"

"Give or take a few score."

"So, shall we say 525?"

"That sounds about right."

"That would round down to one monster per acre, and with family houses taken into account, that should be a decent amount of space, right? Granted most of the monsters are human-sized or smaller..."

"Oh, my goodness," Toriel exclaimed, a smile on her face. "It's a lot bigger than the Underground's fifty. It sounds wonderful."

"The thing is, it's dry and rocky. You don't suppose you monsters, with your resourcefulness, could inhabit this wasteland?"

"If we enrich the soil and plant a few things, we could probably turn it from grey to green within a matter of months. I especially know my way around plants and gardening."

"Sounds promising," Metal Beak nodded. "And a water source? I'm unsure if there are any reserves of groundwater beneath the parcel, and while the Beaks does get frequent enough rainfall, I don't think just that will be sufficient for over five hundred."

"Actually, we have a few magic wielders that can concentrate the moisture in the air around them and cause precipitation."

"You monsters can control the weather!?" Nyra exclaimed.

"Well, it's very low to the ground and restricted to small spaces. What happens far above is beyond our realm of control."

"Oh...Well that's a relief-I MEAN, ah, that should help you collect resources."

"If you monsters end up in the Beaks, would you continue to live off what you eat now? Snails, rodents, your own plant harvests and the like?"

"Well...Maybe we could alter our diets a bit."

"I'll have to look into the Red Deer population in Silverveil and see if it's over the top yet..." he muttered to himself. "I will say this; it may not even come to this point. We don't know if your migration into the Owl Kingdoms will come to be or not; it all depends on how things go between you and humanity. But if it does, we'll at least know how to handle everything. You can never be too prepared."

"Your Pureness, you have made a very generous offer unto us," Asgore acknowledged. "Is there anything we can do in return?"

"Hmm...Well..."

Metal Beak smirked; he'd been waiting for this topic to come up the whole time.

"What about your aid in defensive warfare?"

"Erm...Warfare, sir?"

"I'll have you know something about that parcel of land; were it not so flat and uninhabitable, I'd have used it to fortify our defenses long ago. If you monsters can cultivate and populate that land, then using your magic abilities, you could form a strong offensive barricade against our enemies attacking from the north. Here, let me see here..."

He pushed the map of the Beaks to the side and unfurled another, this time revealing the entirety of the Owl Kingdoms, from Kiel Bay to Shadow Forest, across it.

"You see this body of water right here?" he pointed out.

"The 'Sea of Hoolemere'?" Asgore read aloud.

"I'm sure that by now, you've noticed the island smack in the middle of it, with the tree growing out of it."

"Yes, I have."

"That is the Island of Hoole, and up out of it is growing the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, home of our archenemies and militaristic rivals: the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Their king's favorite thing to do in recent years is launch surprise attacks on our base from the north, right through that patch of barren land. We usually have to face the entire fleet head on whenever they come to challenge us, since it is so difficult to position support squadrons out there. They know that we have them set up nearly everywhere else they could come in, so they use that one piece of land to their advantage."

"Dear me...I see what you mean by you having to defend yourself in combat, young one."

"It's a part of life for us," Ginger told her grimly.

"If you monsters perhaps set up fort along the north of the parcel facing the direction from which the attack would approach, then using your magic against the enemy owls, you could either counter the fleet entirely or force them to turn tail. Even if they try to get past you, you'll still have the chance to at least weaken them before they reach the Palace. And with the deadly capabilities of your long range bullets and other magic weapons, it would be foolish of them to try and face any monsters..."

He turned to Undyne.

"...Especially those of you who have fought against humans in the past, to rush in blindly. The first time around, they won't even know what hit them. Heh heh heh..."

He chucked at the idea, pleased by this potential defensive support, before faltering.

"...Of course, one can't count their owlets before they've hatched. If all goes well for you on the mainland, then we may simply employ a few of you monsters to join us there and assist in the preparation of some of this land for owl soldiers...And maybe a few monster soldiers, should you allow it. Would you allow this, if it turns out alright for you?"

"Well..."

Asgore pondered this for a moment, uncertain of what to do. The Pure Ones certainly had a lot to offer them if things went sour in the form of land and protection, and Ginger especially had already done so much for them. But it was also clear that Metal Beak was also considering his own gains. A win-win situation when put into practice? Perhaps. But what if things DIDN'T go bad with the humans? Then what would be propose?

"Say things go alright for us here on the mainland in the future," he responded. "How would be able to help you then? And vice versa?"

"Hmm..."

It took a few moments, but the High Tyto did decide on an alternative.

"In this case, instead of your entire population, you could just send in a handful of monsters. Some can sort out the land and others can train alongside us and work on defending the passage through the wasteland from enemies. Once the land is prepared for the use of Pure One soldiers, we can deploy our own troops there, but for a first time surprise, we might hold the monster soldiers in the territory. Sort of as a test run of the plan. Once that's done, everyone can return to the mainland as they so please, and one set of soldiers can be swapped out for another. And furthermore, should a few monsters decide to stay with us permanently, they will be granted the land for their own personal use."

"That's...an interesting proposal."

"And as for us providing our assistance to you as you try to integrate with human society, we could help in quite a few fields. Restricted to camping out in the open for several nights? A dozen Stormtrooper soldiers could easily defend you from hostiles, be they man or beast. Running low on a local food supply? They can hunt for you. Things in the mountain itself that you would rather the humans not know? Keep your higher ups there for a while, and my owls will help them destroy any physical evidence of your former mistakes, as well as spread the word to other monsters that it must be classified, and provide contact with us in the Kingdoms from their post in the mainland via messaging system, to alert us to any situations in which you may need further aid, or just news in general. Something for each of us, eh? How's that grab you?"

"Er...Wow..." Asgore exclaimed softly. "That...this actually all sounds very good. W-would you really do all of this for us?"

"If we have the bird power, we'll do it. And by Glaux, we have the bird power."

The king smiled. This was incredible.

"Sir, I believe I'm on board with all of this. Thank you, your Pureness. Thank you so!"

As dark wing once again met white paw, both monster and Pure One cheered the deal. Both sides would prosper, no matter the outcome.

"Marvelous," Metal Beak nodded. "Now...Only one issue remains."

"What is that?"

"Well, take a look at this."

He unfurled yet another map, and this one displayed an even bigger spread of land than the last two, being a map of the entire South Pacific Ocean, Owl Kingdoms included.

"We have found a few shortcuts via the stream of hidden air currents as of late, but each switch from one place to another will take quite some time; several days to get there and another several days to get back. Some of you can swim, but it's not as efficient as flying."

"A few of us can fly as well, actually! Very swiftly, too. And without rest for long periods."

"Oh, REALLY, now?" the High Tyto grinned. "Like who?"

"Several Whimsalot might prove useful to your force, and there are a few Snowdrakes in the Royal Guard's New Home unit! As well as a handful of dragons, and Final F-"

"Dragons?" Nyra echoed, not sure if she heard him right.

"M-hm."

"As in giant, reptilian titans that breathe fire."

"Well, they're not usually much bigger than myself. A couple also have ice or mist breath."

"You're not bluffing?" Metal Beak asked, just to be sure.

"No, sir. They are dragons. Dragons classify as monsters...Although they aren't exactly the uncivil beasts most human mythology books make them out to be."

The Sooty Owl put a wing up to his head; it was hard for him to wrap his mind around all of this.

"...Why don't you send a few in from the caverns, and...I'll see what to do from there."

"That sounds wonderful. They should serve you well."

"As will mine...Shall we swap ten each? I have two dozen stormtrooper soldiers with me now, so we can get right down to business."

"Excellent, sir!"

Another applause sounded from the Pure Ones, and the High Tyto returned to his branch.

"I'll gather my assets now. Can you do the same with your own?"

"I'll get to it at once, your Pureness. How many of each type of monster do you request?"

"At least two dragons, for sure. I'm going to have to see that for myself...Maybe five Snowdrakes and five Whimsalot, whatever they look like."

"That is fine by me."

"Good, good...And after that, I suppose we will be readying our departure for the Owl Kingdoms. We've been about ready for several days; the only reason I stayed put for an additional week was because I wondered if the young General would return...Worth the wait, it was, though. It was a great privilege to hold this meeting, your Majesty. I hope there will be more in store for our new relation besides simple military benefit."

"And I bid the same to you," Asgore bowed.

"Now...I'll have to gather a part of my fleet."

"Of course."

Metal Beak turned to face his own array of troops behind him, looking over them to decide which ones to send with the monsters. As he looked over the stormtroopers, the young trainee soldiers began to talk among themselves.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting any of this," Vaygar chortled. "'Ey, these guys are pretty neat, you know, Ging'? Say, how is it that you always know how to pick 'em?"

"I don't know..." she answered, a dull look in her gaze. She didn't seem all that excited, seeing what just went on.

"...Something wrong?" Phillip inquired.

"Eh, it's just..."

She looked back to the monster crowd; they had already turned, and were heading back out of the pine tree grove.

"...You took a liking to those few, I suppose?" Uklah surmised.

"That's the case...You know...Some of them actually reminded me a lot of...well...you guys. Honestly, for a while, I didn't think I'd ever be like this again. Thought I was going to end up stuck with them...Not gonna lie, I actually wouldn't have minded that, I don't think...Guess I got attached. And now, I'm..."

"Not ready to say goodbye yet?"

Kludd was the one to say it. Normally, he didn't show much in the way of emotion, but there was...something different about his auburn gaze. Something that Ginger hadn't seen in a while. But whenever he showed it, he always made sure he showed it to her. Her eyes grew moist, and she blinked them tightly, then nodded in response to her companion.

"Well, we ain't leavin' just yet," he acknowledged. "Maybe you could keep with 'em for a while longer before we head out."

"Heck; Metal Beak might even say you stick with 'em if you'd rather," Vaygar chimed in.

"...No, I...I can't do that," she declined, despite being a bit tempted by such a prospect. "I just go back, I'm not gonna leave you all again."

"Well...Whatever you decide, we'll all be here for you, alright?" Phillip assured her.

She said nothing; no words need be spoken. All she did was smile at them all for a few good, long moments before turning and approaching the High Tyto.

"Ah...Your Pureness, sir?"

"Hm? Oh, it's you, Ginger. What's on your mind?"

"Um...Since we're going to be leaving fairly soon, I was wondering if I could..."

"Could what?"

"I don't know..." she sighed. "I just wanted to...maybe stay with the monsters for a bit longer before we head out."

"Oh, I see...You've gotten fairly friendly with them, I assume?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, I'd suspected much...That yellow one was entertaining."

"Alphys? Yeah, she's a bit...She was in a pretty bad spot when I found her, and we ended up getting pretty close...Glad we did. If I hadn't been in the right place at the right time, something bad might have happened...Regarding her."

"So, you rescued her, in a sense?"

"You could say that."

"M-hm...Even as a human, you still kept it up down there, eh?"

"I...excursive a lot of diplomacy down there, actually," she told him. "They don't respond to conflict very well; the citizens, at least. I think that's what made everything turn out the way it did, actually...Glad nobody's dead, I'll just say that."

"Yes, that is a good thing...Well, if you want to join their party, I suggest you fly along, Tyto."

"Yes, your Pureness."

She turned, spread her wings, and flew off in the direction the monsters were heading. The crowd of seven hadn't gotten that far on foot, and she was lucky that Sans hadn't decided to use any 'shortcuts' yet. But judging from what she was hearing, it looked like she came just in time.

"I wouldn't want to keep them waiting for too long. Sans, do you think you could do that thing again?"

"huh? oh, the shortcut. yeah, sure."

"Hold on, guys!"

They heard her voice, and all turned to see the young owl-turned-human-turned-owl again coming in for a landing behind them.

"Back so soon, eh?" Undyne smirked.

"Yes...Um...Guys...You know I'm gonna be leaving soon, you know?"

"yeah..." Sans nodded. "you wanna hang with us a while longer before you head out?"

Ginger nodded.

"That's why I came."

"Child you are always welcome here with us," Toriel promised, bending down and gently lifting her head up by the chin of the facial disc. "And no matter how far away you are, you will always be with us. And us with you."

"And we could probably still come visit!" Asriel suggested. "Or you could come back here whenever you can!"

"I'll keep that in mind," the owl nodded. "Erm...Sans. I know it's eight miles, but...Do you mind if we take the long way there?"

He sighed; he didn't show it quite as much, but the skeleton wasn't ready for goodbye just yet himself.

"sure thing, kid."

"Thanks...So...I guess we should go on ahead."

They kept going forward through the pine trees until they reached the edge of the grove. Ginger had to maintain a brisk pace to keep up with her monster friends, all of which towered high above her now.

"Man..." she commented. "If there's just one thing I miss about being a human, it's the height."

Alphys giggled.

"Hey, a-at least I'm not the short one anymore. Heh heh...Even Asriel's a smidge taller than me."

"A smidge, eh?" Asgore teased, taking his son up and lifting him onto his shoulders.

"How's this for a bird's eye view, son?"

The prince held onto his father's horns as they went. Toriel smiled at the heartwarming scene; a sense of normalcy was returning to her; one she didn't think she would ever really feel again. And she was glad of it.

"...Now that everything is sorted out between the owls," she asked. "Asriel...How exactly is it that you...came back?"

The smile fell from his face. They weren't going to like this.

"I'll help ex...explain of you want..." Ginger huffed.

"Uh...N-need some help?" Alphys asked, noting that the fast walking was taking a toll on her.

"I'd fly, but it's too fast, and I'd have to keep circling around you guys...Not to mention, it isn't exactly the best way to pass the time."

"FEAR NOT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE A SOLUTION!"

"Dude, what are-ACK!"

In one swift motion, the taller skeleton took the owl in his gloved hands and put her on his shoulder. Ginger was so stunned by the unexpected shift that she just sat there frozen for several moments before any of what Papyrus was saying actually got into her head.

"NOW YOU NOT ONLY NEEDN'T BURDEN YOURSELF WITH WALKING, BUT ARE ALSO HIGH ENOUGH TO GAZE UPON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US! NOT TO MENTION, YOU HAVE THE ADDED BENEFIT OF BEING MOREEASILY GRACED BY MY PRESENCE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"Ha...That...This works, I guess," she finally responded.

"So...You guys wanna know what happened?" Asriel asked them as they continued.

"Do not take this the wrong way, Asriel; we...we couldn't be happier that you are alive and well. And with us again. But it is also very confusing."

"Well...I'll tell you, but...You're not gonna like it. You might not even believe it, but...I swear it's true."

"Whatever you say, Asriel, we will believe you," Asgore assured him. "I promise."

With a heavy heart and a heavy sigh, the prince told them everything.

And it all started with a flower.

* * *

**A.N.: Forgive any typos or spelling errors if you see any; I had to revise and completely change a few of the scenes I originally planned out, so there might be one here or there; there usually are, and by the time I notice, the chapter's already published. XD**

**So, this chapter has the most 'Ga'Hoole' aspects, with all of the Pure One characters present and locations mentioned. Yeah, yeah, the Pure Ones are the villains in the canon series, but I always thought it'd be interesting to see them in the role of the protagonist force. I always liked them better than the Guardians of Ga'Hoole themselves for some stupid reason, lol.**

**Hey, at least I finally finished it! See you guys in the next chapter, where everything finally wraps up! :D**


	44. Chapter 41: Last Goodbye

"So the timeline kept resetting over and over again..." Asgore reflected. "...Is there any chance that someone else could gain this power for themselves?"

"not at this point," Sans answered him. "the power to **save** and **reset** was altered for a different purpose; keeping az' from melting into a pile o' goop. i don't think he could even if he tried, with or without the determination."

"And even if I could, I...wouldn't really want to anymore," the prince assured them. "Resetting was the only thing that gave me a sense of...anything. Every time I did something new, I would feel some sort of tiny flicker; guilt, hope, I don't know...It was always gone before I could process it. But now that I have my SOUL back, I...I'm okay. I'm ready for whatever the future brings."

"My dear son..." Asgore rasped, holding his child in his arms. "...If only I'd known how to...I'm the one who put you through all of this. It was me who ordered Dr. Alphys to do the experiments in the first place. If you have any burden, cast it on me. I...I don't deserve this. I don't deserve any of this..."

Both of his parents were in tears. Asriel had explained everything to them; the plan Chara had devised for them, waking up as a flower, having no SOUL, discovering the power to **Save** and **Reset**, and the horrible things that he did in the deleted timelines as he continued to go mad from his lack of true emotion.

"No, Dad, it's okay," he promised. "You were just trying to do the right thing, I swear. In fact...This was all my fault from the beginning."

"The things Flowey did were not your fault, Asriel," his mother said to him. "If it could happen to you, it...It could have happened to anyone. Flowey was not who you are. Flowey was soulless. He was not YOU. And now we do not have to worry about him anymore, because you have your SOUL again, and you are not going anywhere..."

"No...I mean...before what happened," he corrected lightly. "I was the one who went along with Chara's plan. I should have told someone. I shouldn't have just...blindly tried to be the hero. It was stupid of me, and it was my fault you guys didn't know what got her so sick, and I didn't tell anyone and..."

A sob wracked his form, but he refrained from letting it hinder his speech.

"...I'm sorry I didn't tell you...I was a horrible brother for not doing anything to stop it, and now she's gone..."

They were about to defend him, but before any words could escape their muzzles, they realized that he had a point. He should have told them about what was really happening. And if he had, if they'd stopped all of this madness before it could start knowing what she was trying to do, then Chara would never have died, Asriel wouldn't have crossed the Barrier, and in turn wouldn't have been beat to death by the frightened humans, then turned into a souless flower.

"...I suppose, then, all of us had a part in this mess," Toriel surmised. "Chara started it with her plan, then you went along with it and got you both killed...And then Asgore was so grief-stricken that he ended up declaring war on the humans, and I was so upset that I left without trying to fix anything myself...It is not entirely the fault of one. All of us have done some...regrettable things, to certain extents."

She looked back at her ex-husband; she wasn't really sure what to think of him right now. On one hand he not only ordered for the death of six human children, but also Dr. Alphys' DETERMINATION experiments, and thus was responsible for the creation of Flowey...But, then again, if Flowey had never come to be, he wouldn't have absorbed the SOULs and used them to restore him back to his true self, and then Ginger wouldn't have gotten the chance to bring his own SOUL back to him and fully retain his form using her own powers. Asgore was the one who set Asriel up to return from the dead, in doing all of the otherwise terrible things he did.

She wasn't sure if she could stay with him anymore, but knowing that the intended good he'd been trying to accomplish had now come to be, and then some, she at least had to thank him for that.

Asgore looked into the cavern; the Barrier that once stood there had been gone for only a handful of hours, but it felt so much longer than that, for some reason. Some of the monsters had since made their way outside; mostly New Home and Hotland citizens, seeing that the ones from any further west would take quite a bit longer to arrive.

"I'll assemble the soldiers," Undyne told him. "Shouldn't be long!"

She dashed off into the cave, and the others stood outside in wait.

"So, Alphys..." Ginger addressed. "Since you guys are all going to be free now, did you have any plans?"

"Uh...W-well, I...I guess I'll see the sights, a-and go a few places so that..."

She trailed off.

"...No. I'm gonna be completely honest with you."

"What's-"

"I'm gonna sit at home in my pajamas all day and watch anime like a _total loser!_"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, DOCTOR!" Papyrus cheered, so loud and suddenly that it made Ginger jump out of her feathered skin and scamper back onto the ground. "AND I'LL BE THE BEST SPAGHETTI-COOKING AMBASSADOR OF MONSTERKIND THAT THE SURFACE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN! LOOK OUT, HUMANS! THERE'S A NEW SKELETON COMING TO TOWN AND HIS NAME IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"Heh heh...Well, I mean, I-I'd have to find another job at some point, y-you know?"

"Yeah...I hear ya..." the owl nodded lightly. There was still a dim glimmer of sadness in her gaze.

"H-hey. It's okay," Alphys consoled, resting a clawed hand on her friend's back. "We'll see each other again."

"hey. it might even be more frequent if i ever decide to head on down to this beaks place and check it out for myself."

That was what made her perk back up.

"...You're right," she realized.

"Oh, what? That, uh, sh-shortcut thing you did?" Alphys piped up.

"that thing i tried with gettin' to the pine tree grove was a pretty big stroke of luck. usually, i have to get to a place on foot before i can cut to it, or else...well...one thing that could happen is for me to end up some place entirely different. i remember my first day as judge, and i tried to get to new home...when i hadn't been there yet. the next thing i know, i'm in this weird part of snowdin...full of dogs. i think that's where the one lives who keeps stealing papyrus' bone collection."

"A-HA! I'LL BE SURE TO HAVE A WORD OR TWO WITH THAT DOG WHEN NEXT I SEE IT! AND YOU CAN BET THAT THOSE WORDS ARE GOING TO BE 'STOP MAKING OFF WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACKS!'"

"i can imagine."

"So, all you need to do is step foot in the Beaks once, and you can instantly cut there?"

"probably. the only concern i have is that it's a lot farther away than what i normally do. but i could probably still pull it off."

"That sounds promising," she smiled.

"well...now that i know a lot of things are gonna be different, i might decide to keep some more of those...papyrus. next time you get the chance, whip me up some of your new spaghetti."

His brother beamed.

"...REALLY? YOU'RE FINALLY...NYEH! WILL DO, BROTHER!"

"So, now that you are going to be able to rejoin your friends," Toriel asked her. "What do you plan on doing with yourself next?"

"Well, I guess I'll be heading back to my hollow-sweet-hollow once I get back. And soon enough, I'll take up my old...my..."

She stopped, the smile slowly fading from her face.

"...I'll have to don my old battleclaws," she realized. "And...kill again. To serve the force."

Silence reigned. It dawned on Ginger that everything she'd learned underneath the mountain about the exercise of MERCY was going to go to waste in the Beaks...But didn't her duty as a Pure One still call her?

"...My dear child," the queen said to her. "I understand that this must be a difficult decision for you to make...If you cannot avoid the battlefield, then...might I make a suggestion?"

"What's that?"

"In times of peace, perhaps you could exercise what you have learned with us, and spread it throughout your own home as best you can. Who knows? If you can find more peaceful ways around things, you may find yourself having to go into battle less and less...I cannot make any promises, but it is worth a try, is it not?"

"I guess it is worth a shot," the owl nodded. "...But, you know...I don't think I'll ever fully escape the battlefield."

She remembered the first time she went into an actual battle, against a horde of crows. She'd felt an excited energy surge course through her. Battle was a thrilling aspect of her life as a Pure One. It strengthened the body and the spirit...but also hardened the heart. Yes, one had to be a bit cold and calculating to be a functioning soldier, but now knowing what she knew about the whole ordeal, she was beginning to see everything in a bit of a different light.

"...I won't lie; a part of me is...actually looking forward to getting back out there and stretching my claws. And at least I know that when I do go out and fight, I'm at least fighting for something good...Sometimes, people have to fight in order to maintain the peace you want, you know?"

"I couldn't have said it much better myself," Asgore commented. "Look, dear. Whatever you do, we will always be behind you. Isn't that why we're sending some members of the Royal Guard in to train with you? For this very purpose?"

"That is true..."

"You needn't worry," Toriel assured her. "You will be alright."

"Hey! Uh, this might sound sorta weird," Alphys added. "But I bet you owls look super cool when you're flying into battle! L-like some sort of force of winged knights flying in to defeat the dark lords!"

"Actually, it does look pretty awesome."

"Holy crap, that would actually make a KILLER anime! I gotta make some concept art!"

"...Concept art?"

"Uh...You know, like, w-weapon and armor interpretation, and stuff...? Uh...Never mind-"

"Hold ON, Al'. You don't think we could send any of your future concept art to us, do you? Gwyndor's always trying to craft new things for us; some of your ideas might just make it into the physical realm if we can use them well enough."

The raptor monster's eyes widened, and she practically squealed with excitement.

"_Doyoureallythinkthatcouldhappen!?_"

"There's always a chance. And knowing some of the things YOU can come up with, it's probably a good one."

"That sounds _amazing~!_"

The monster celebrated by scooping her owl friend up and squeezing her into a hug...And forgetting for a moment that Ginger wasn't exactly a five-foot human anymore.

"_Too tight. Can't breathe..._"

"Oh...S-sorry."

She loosened her grip.

"Thank you. I'd rather not get crushed today."

"Understood. Heh heh..."

Alphys put her down, then lightly scratched the top of her head.

"I-I wasn't expecting you guys to be so soft, you know?"

"It ain't just for show; that's what keeps our flight from bein' noisy."

"Alright, fellas, here we come!"

Undyne was returning from the caverns, several soldiers in tow. She skidded to a halt just feet away from the crowd.

"Hey featherbrain. Think he'll be happy with this?"

Ginger looked up at the monsters Metal Beak had requested. The two dragons were crimson red and aqua blue respectively, sporting contrasting auras of fire and water, and they each stood at a very impressive seven feet tall. The five Whimsalot looked similar to the ones she'd encountered in the CORE, perhaps slightly differing in their shades of grey and beige, but they were all armed with their signature helmets and double-edged spears, and the rugged-looking band of Snowdrakes each sported confident smirks.

"Oh, yeah. He'll like what he sees."

"well, i s'pose it's time we head on back down there," Sans suggested. "you wanna go the long way again?"

"I guess we can," she decided. "The Pure Ones can wait a LITTLE longer, as long as we keep a brisk pace."

"you got it, kiddo," he smiled, flashing a thumbs-up. "...hey, guard guys. can you fly on over there?"

"As sure as the sun has risen upon us," one of the Whimsalot saluted. "Where is the grove?"

"just eight miles off to the southeast."

"Excellent. We'll get there in no time," the red dragon nodded. "Alright, fellas, let's move out!"

They all took to the skies. Ginger watched them fly, and was impressed by just how fast they were. Another thing for the High Tyto to marvel at.

"alright, everyone," the skeleton told the group. "you heard the bird. let's get a move on."

"Wait, WAIT! Hold yer horses, there, fellas!"

The familiar voice came from the cave, and everyone turned to see a certain elderly tortoise monster marching out from the darkness, slowly but steadily.

"Heh...These old bones o' mine might be sturdy 'nuff, but I ain't gettin' any faster...!"

"Gerson!"

The fish monster ran to meet him. He was already stepping out into the sunlight when she made it to her old idol.

"Heh...Never did think I'd see the sun again," he said to himself. "I heard 'bout what was goin' on, so I went and got a head start. Took me long enough! Wah hah hah hah!"

"It's great, ain't it?" Undyne agreed. "We're, uh...While you were in there, some other things happened."

"Oh, really? What exactly? Eh...Say, where'd the human get herself off to?"

"Uh...Right here, Mr. Gerson."

The old tortoise monster looked down at his feet to see a feathered creature, barely a foot tall, coming to face him.

"Didn't think we'd meet again so soon," she remarked.

"What in the...Am I finally losin' it? That ain't really you, General, is it?"

"You'd be surprised."

"HA! Well, THIS ain't exactly somethin' you see everyday! How in the Sam Hill did you get from up THERE to down HERE?" he asked, marking her present and former height with his hand.

"Well, part of that went into bring him back."

"Bringing-"

He looked over to where the owl was pointing, and, lo and behold, he found himself looking at the spitting image of the dead prince.

"Uh...Hi, Mr. Gerson, sir," he waved. "Been a while, huh?"

"...Alright, now I'm SURE I've done lost it. I'd swear I'm staring at the dearly departed Prince Asriel right about now."

"You are, old friend," Asgore assured him. "It was no less than a miracle it occurred."

"...It's really you, boy?"

Asriel nodded.

"...Stick me in the ocean and call me a loggerhead. First the Barrier breaks, then the human's a bird, then the prince comes back from the doggone dead...Sheesh! It'll take me at least a month to wrap my head 'round all this!"

"I'll explain it as we go along," Ginger assured him. "Just grab onto the skeleton and prepare yourself. Things are about to get even weirder."

* * *

_..._

* * *

"...They really ARE dragons."

"Mr. High Tyto, sir," Undyne introduced. "These two big ones are Corporals Fakkel and Foss."

"Pleasure to be of service, your Pureness, sir," Fakkel, the red dragon, nodded. Foss, a dragoness, gave her own testament.

"Captain Undyne explained the situation with the parcel you were willing to grant us. How soon after we arrive in the Kingdoms will we be able to start working on the land?"

"Well, as...As soon as you arrive, if you want," he answered them, still in a bit of a daze. "Ha...dragons..."

"And these five are Sirs Whitman, Whalton, Whinston, Whinslow and Whilhelm."

"Oh, oh, yes. Erm...Are you all...moths?"

"In a way, sir," one of the Whimsalot replied. "But don't be fooled. We are well-trained and will fight vigilantly for you. For any noble cause."

"Interesting...Just don't fly into any lights."

"Oh, no, sir. We've long since learned to resist the temptation of lamps."

"And finally, the five Snowdrakes," the captain continued. "These five rustlers are Cooldrake, Icedrake, Bluedrake, Winddrake and Pinedrake."

Metal Beak blinked. The appearance was not particularly odd to him. In fact, they looked somewhat akin to robust Snowy Owls. It was their NAMES that he was surprised by.

"Those are all your...actual names?" he asked them. "Like...your birth names?"

"Yeah," Icedrake, one of the two hens in the group, confirmed. "We monsters aren't exactly the best at naming things...It's practically a part of our culture."

"Well...I don't mean to insult you, but if any of you might be interested, I might be willing to assign you all...Pure One names, if you wish to earn them."

"Pure One names?" Pinedrake asked.

"Yes, yes. Names assigned by me and my dear Ablah General. A lot of Pure Ones wish for the privilege to be granted one...Especially those who particularly despised the names their parents gave them. Isn't that right, _Bartholomew?_"

"Please, sir. Spare me."

Uglamore rolled his eyes. It might have sounded a bit gross at first, but 'Uglamore' was definitely more intimidating than 'Bartholomew.'

"As for my soldiers that will assist you monsters, I have them all assembled here," the Sooty Owl continued, motioning to the dozen soldiers behind him. They'd all removed their uniform iron helmets so that their faces could be seen.

"These are Lieutenants Blyrric, Wortmore and Uglamore, Corporals Kylor, Scourge, Titus, Brutus and Firethorn, and Cadets Cedar, Gebbles, Marlow, and Nash. May they guide you with their gizzards and guard you with their strength."

"We're at your aid," Kylor, a Lesser Sooty Owl, saluted.

"I'm looking forward to this, really," Blyrric, a Tyto Alba, smirked. "I'm as curious about you monsters as his Pureness himself."

"You weren't kidding about the dragons..." Gebbles awed. She was a Red Owl, and her deep brown eyes shone with amazement at the monsters.

"Nope, we weren't," Undyne shrugged. She turned to the Royal Guard members.

"Do 'em well, fellas, ya hear?"

They all saluted to the captain, and with a final nod, the monsters went to join the rest of the Pure Ones, and vice versa. Undyne went back to join her party of friends; Ginger was busy explaining the situation to Gerson, and her two fellow slipgizzles, Valdimore and Allomere, were present with her. Supposedly, she'd introduced them to him.

"So, you two are Valdimore and Allomere, eh?" he asked, peering down at them.

"Yes, sir, that we are," the former nodded. The tortoise let out a raspy chuckle at what he was seeing.

"I, uh...I gotta say, I imagined you two a lot taller."

He continued to laugh, and Allomere rose his feathery eyebrows, not amused by the apparent stature joke.

"Does that notion strike you as amusing, sir?"

"Eyyyup."

He laughed harder, and the Great Grey rolled his eyes.

"We've got another Ezylryb on our talons," he whispered to the Eagle Owl.

"Oh, give it a blow, old chap. At least he's fond of us."

"Say, if you two ever come to the mainland along with me, you've GOTTA see some of the movies the humans make," their student told them.

"Er...Movies, child?"

"_Jurassic Park III_'s a blast. I swear, you'll LOVE it. A lot of Pure Ones might."

"Oh, no. Uh, I-I should warn you guys, it's gory," Alphys put in.

"Oh, dear me," Toriel gasped.

"I like the sound of it..." Valdimore grinned.

"You know, it's weird, but..." Ginger realized. "Allomere, I swear you sound EXACTLY like the main character, just with a different accent."

"That's ridiculous," he smirked, actually somewhat entertained by this notion. "What could possibly make you think that?"

"HMM...MAYBE THEY SHOULD CALL YOU 'ALAN-MERE' INSTEAD."

Sans and the General slowly turned to face him, and after staring at Papyrus for a good, long few moments, they each held back a loud burst of hysterical laughter.

"you do know what you just did, right?"

"OF COURSE, BROTHER! I MADE A WITTY PLAY ON WORDS!"

"yeah, uh...that's called a pun."

Now it was Papyrus' turn to freeze. And then, suddenly.

"YOU TWO ARE SO TERRIBLE THAT YOU'RE EVEN RUBBING OFF ON THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" he lamented, falling to his knees.

"How's it hangin, fellas?" the fish monster asked everyone.

"I must say, Undyne," Asgore answered her. "All of this, in a way, is pretty amusing. We've barely been on the surface for a handful of hours, and we've already established an alliance...And our newfound friends just so happen to be a legion of owls that come from across the ocean."

"I know...It is pretty crazy, huh?"

"hey, at least i know why you were flappin' your arms like a weirdo when you were goin' up against my brother, eh, kid?"

"Oh, uh...Yeah. It was an instinctive thing."

"that didn't stop it from lookin' ridiculous. i was bustin' my sides when i saw you do that."

"WERE you, now?"

"Darn! I missed that!" Undyne exclaimed, stamping her boot on the ground.

"Yeah, good thing you did, or I'd never be hearing the end of it!"

The group burst out laughing.

"Attention, Pure Ones!" Nyra called out from the top of the tallest tree. "We are now preparing our departure from the mainland for the Beaks! Gather on the southwest edge of the grove for the massing! I repeat! Gather on the southwest edge of the grove for massing!"

"Hey, come on, fellas!" Ginger said to her monster friends as Valdimore and Allomere took off ahead of her. "You guys can watch everyone take off!"

"Oh, wow! Sounds cool!" Asriel exclaimed, excitedly following after the young owl as she spread her own wings and began flying low to the ground. Everyone else ran after her, and it wasn't long until they reached the site of the massing. The entire southwest portion of the pine tree grove was crowded with the assembly of owls and monsters, covering the grassy ground that surrounded the area. The deciduous forest, painted with warm, autumnal colors, stretched on for miles, and while they couldn't see it from the ground, the nearest civilization was bedded down among the wilderness just east the flight path the Pure Ones would take.

Ginger gathered with the other four trainee owls, the monsters behind her, watching the scene. The High Tyto stood in front of the massive crowd, and Nyra scanned over the fleet, calling role as she looked over the names written down on her unfurled parchment. All owls on the list, now including the dozen of monsters that had been swapped out for the dozen Pure One soldiers, were present so far, and then Nyra came to the last soldiers on the list; the five trainees.

"Vaygar?"

"Right here."

"Phillip?"

"Present."

"Uklah?"

"Here!"

"Kludd?"

"Ready to go."

"Ginger?"

Silence.

"..._Ginger?_"

"Oh, uh, right here!"

She turned around, having been absorbed in her monster company. The Ablah General sighed, and came to face the young Tyto.

"...Perhaps you'd like a moment to say goodbye to them?"

The General hung her head lower, giving a barely discernible nod in response.

"You know, if you think it best, I suppose I _could_ switch out one of the soldiers meant to stay here so you could take on the duties of protecting your friends."

"That does sound nice," she admitted. "But, I mean...I just got back here. I can't just...abandon you guys all over again."

"You never abandoned us, young one," Nyra assured her. "And even if you decide to stay, you would not be abandoning us, then. As long as you remain steadfast to what we stand for, you will always be a Pure One, no matter how far away from the Owl Kingdoms you might be."

She smiled up at the white owl, then turned back to face her monster friends again.

"We'll take care of ya," Asriel said to her. "...We promise."

It was all very tempting...But Ginger knew where she had to be right now: back in the Beaks. And despite her having made all of these wonderful friends during her time in the Underground, she missed the palace of the Pure Ones, and her training regiments with her fellow Pure Ones, and her stone hollow nestled in the rocky crevices. It was her calling. Her duty.

Her home.

She shook her head at the monsters in decline.

"...I have places to go."

Toriel nodded.

"We understand."

They watched as the young owl, who'd helped them through so many hardships, approach. She came to the skeleton brothers first.

"...Guess we'll be seeing each other, huh?"

"don't sweat it. can't do it now, but i'll hitch a ride on a dragon over there one of these days so we can hang."

"That's a pretty FLY idea."

"jeez, kid...you're a CHIRP off the old block."

"_Ha!_"

Papyrus sniffled as he bent down, eye sockets wet with tears.

"I GUESS...YOU'RE LEAVING FOR REAL NOW...OH, I'M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE, EITHER!"

He took the owl in his gloved hands and drew her right to him. Sans joined in, putting an arm around his brother.

"s'alright, bro...she'll be back."

"Hey...Papyrus. You know what?"

"WHAT...?"

And then she said it.

"_Alan._"

His eyes widened in shock, and slowly, a smile inched across his face.

"...HEH...HEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

One last smile and one last laugh was all she needed to hear before she left him.

"HEH...I THINK I'LL BE ALRIGHT, FRIEND."

"Make sure you show the humans your amazing spaghetti-cooking techniques, alright?"

"WILL DO! GOOD LUCK OUT THERE!"

"Hey! I'm the one who taught him all that! What about me?"

The fish monster stepped forward. Ginger smirked, then rolled her eyes in an amused manner.

"Don't scare all the humans off with your happy-slappy spear throwing, ya hear?"

Undyne scoffed.

"Jeez...How do they stand you over there?"

"Ditto."

The captain let out an exasperated groan, pinching where her sinuses would be if she had a nose.

"I swear, I'm gonna sneak up on you and get you good one of these days."

"Try me...Duel. Next time we meet. Doesn't matter when, doesn't matter where. And don't hold anything back...Next time, you'll be able to see how I REALLY fight."

"Oh, ho ho ho ho, HELL yeah! I'm lookin' forward to it!"

To finish it off, they locked their hand and feathers to seal the deal, and Undyne reached down with her other hand to lightly cuff the bird's head off to the side, fish clenched.

"Ah, see you 'round, punk."

"Later, fish-face."

Ginger turned away from Undyne, and then came to face her significant other. Alphys smiled, but was trying to blink away her own tears at the same time.

"You'll be able to get along without me, right?"

"Yeah..." she nodded. "Th-thanks for all you did t-to help me."

"Don't mention it, pal. Heh...You know, it might not be right to think, but I'm gonna miss standing taller than you."

"I...I w-wouldn't be standing h-here at all i-if it weren't f-for you."

She sniveled, and the tears broke free.

"I'm sorry..." she sobbed. "C-can I just have w-one more hug b-before you go...?"

The young owl didn't say anything, instead just stepping closer and letting Alphys stoop down to pick her back up and hold her close.

"I'll miss you..."

"Same to you."

The monster stifled another sob, squeezing her just a bit tighter. Ginger reached a wing out to rest on her back, using her other one to wipe away her friend's tears.

"It'll be okay, Al'..."

"I-I know. I just...don't really like goodbyes."

"Would 'see you soon' do better?"

Alphys smiled through her tears.

"Yeah. That...sounds better."

"Next time we meet up, show me some more of that anime you got, okay?"

"Heh heh...Okay. S-sounds like fun."

She put her down, giving her one last pat on the head.

"Y-you're a great friend," the raptor nodded, raising her hand in a small wave. "Good luck."

"See you soon, Alphys."

And then, Ginger turned to the Dreemurrs; Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel were all standing there, waiting for her to come near. And she didn't keep them waiting.

Toriel bent down first.

"Stay safe out there, dear," Toriel bid her.

"Hey, thanks for all the help back in the Ruins. Did me a lot of good in the long run."

"You know, you ought to have some snail pie the next time we meet. I remember you saying that it sounded appetizing..."

"And now you know why."

The Boss Monster giggled, resting a gentle paw atop the Barn Owl's head for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose I do."

Asgore approached.

"Always strive to do the right thing," he nodded. "And above all, never give up hope."

"I'll fight for you monsters as well as I do my own kin," she promised the monster king, raising her wing into a salute.

"Thank you, child, for being there for me. For all of us, when we needed it."

He lifted her up in his paws and brought her in for an embrace of his own.

"Make sure everyone else is safe for me, alright?" she asked him.

"Will do."

He put her down, and then...

The prince came forward. There was a grateful glint in his hazel eyes.

"Y-you know..." he began. "If it hadn't been for you deciding to come into the Ruins, I...I wouldn't be here. Flowey's gone. I'm here. This is all real. I...I have my life back."

"And you're gonna live it out to the fullest, ya hear me?"

Asriel wiped his eyes on his striped sleeve.

"Heh...I've really gotta get over this crybaby stuff."

"Come on, Az', you guys are all rubbin' off on me."

He got down onto his knees, and the two children, whose roles in this pivotal event would be forever cemented in history, stood there, arms and wings around one another, as it had been in the void, and in the Ruins. They'd done it. They were alive. They were free. Their business was finished.

And now, both of them could finally go home.

They parted from each other, and Ginger backed away from the crowd. Everyone she had come to know and love beneath the mountain was there. They were ready.

And so was she.

"Ready to depart, Tyto?" Nyra asked her.

Ginger turned to face the Ablah General, and, sporting a confident smile across her beak, nodded.

"I'm ready."

She turned to join her party of owls, and readied her wings for takeoff.

"we'll send you a postcard now and then."

"Complete with whoopie cushions?"

"maybe."

"F-fly safely, okay!?"

"Will do, Alphys!"

"Alright, Pure Ones! Attention!"

Ginger and her fellow Tytos looked ahead, forms stiff and wings ready to open. And then, Nyra gave the command.

"Takeoff!"

With a push of her legs and a flap of her wings, she was airborne, and so were the other trainees, the monsters, and the other Pure One soldiers returning to the Beaks. In mere moments, the sky to the southwest was almost obscured by dark silhouettes of the flyers, soaring higher into the morning sky. The seven on the ground watched the spectacle, in awe of the sight of the fleet. As they flew onward, Ginger looked back down at her old comrades one last time.

They were all waving goodbye.

And, just before they disappeared beneath the forest below, the young General sounded off a shrill screech. It was both a parting farewell and a cry of victory, and it echoed across the vast autumn woodland.

The band of monsters kept waving until both she and her fellow flyers had completely vanished into the horizon.

"so...now what?" Sans shrugged.

"Well..." Asgore pondered. "I suppose we will have to...find a few humans to start things out with."

"Do you think they will turn hostile when they see us?" Toriel worried.

"Hey, I-I think I have an idea!" Alphys exclaimed. "Since the Barrier's gone, I-I might be able to get service on my phone from somewhere! If I can find a hotspot, o-or somewhere else where the connecting is strong enough, then we could communicate with the humans over the phone, o-or via radio frequency! Y-you know, to prepare them for, uh, what they're gonna see."

"Alphys, that's a marvelous idea!" the king beamed.

"Ha...Y-you really think so?"

"THINK so? Alphy, you're a GENIUS!"

Undyne tackled her by surprise, then lifted her up and spun around with her in her arms.

"Aw...C-come on, you guys are makin' me go all pink again."

"Not enough for me! And now that those birdbrains are finally gone, I can do THIS again!"

In one swift motion, the fish monster leaned in and pressed her lips right against those of her sweetheart. It took her a moment to register what'd happened from the sheer shock of it, but once she did, Alphys kissed her right back, and they stayed like that for a few good, long moments before breaking apart. At that point, the smaller monster was blushing so hard, even the feathers on her head almost looked orange.

"...Wow," she huffed, practically having swooned in Undyne's arms.

"There's gonna be plenty more where that came from down the road, Al'. Ya better be ready for it!"

"This is a new beginning for all of us," Asgore nodded. "Erm...Toriel. I know that...you must not be very fond of me right about now, but...S-since we have Asriel back, and we finally made it to the surface again, do you think that maybe we could..."

He scratched the back of his head.

"You know...try again sometime?"

Toriel cast a glance off to the left, letting out a long, uncertain sigh before giving her answer.

"We will see about that. In the mean time, I say we simply cooperate as representatives to help forward our progress. One step at a time, alright, Asgore?"

"Yes, Toriel."

"King Asgore. Lieutenant Blyrric reporting," one of their Pure One protectors said to him, now wearing his iron helmet. "Would you care for me and a handful of the underlings to retrieve supplies from Mount Ebott in the case you have to camp out here for the night? Food, water, shelter supplies, the like?"

"That would be splendid, Lieutenant. You shall depart effective immediately."

"Yes, sir. Alright, Tytos, let's move!"

Four of the other owls took off behind him towards the mountain.

The seven monsters looked to the sky; bright and blue. Whatever happened between monsters and humans, he knew that now, he could rest assured that in the end, everything would fall into place, and everything would turn out just fine.

The future was now. And the best was yet to come.

* * *

_..._

* * *

...

* * *

...

* * *

The tips of the rock spires could just barely be seen through the mist, and the black sand shore of the Beaks rose over the horizon. It wasn't long until the surface beneath the fleet turned from endless ocean to solid, stone ground, and in time, the most massive of all the spires, the Pure One Palace, came into clear view. The next thing they knew, they were drawing near the entryway into the open cave system, which would lead into the palace itself. Ginger knew this place very well, and her eyes grew moist at the sight of it. For a good while, she thought she would never see this place again.

And now she was here.

"Alert Stryker! His Pureness has returned with his fleet!" one of the soldiers spying their leaders hollered as he watched them come in. "Go on and spread the...Spread..."

THAT was when the soldier took note of the armed insects, giant birds and(especially) the image of two immense dragons flying alongside the fleet in place of a dozen owls.

And he went yeep right then and there, where he stood.

"Prepare for descent!" Nyra called out. The eight armed soldiers, the trainees and he monsters all followed after the Ablah General and High Tyto as they slowed their flight, then alighted on the stone floor. The sound of many sets of claws clicking against the rock sounded out through the castle walls.

Several other Pure Ones were present witnessing the scene, and they were terrified and awestruck by the strange creatures that their leader had brought with him from the mainland. In an instant, the entire Throne Room was ablaze with questions.

"Please, soldiers, one at a time!" Metal Beak nearly screamed. His outburst got the entire room quiet in an instant.

"Now...I'll explain everything in time. As of now, just be aware that these unfamiliar creatures come in peace."

"Are those dragons!?"

"What did I just say?"

More bantering and verbal chaos ensued, and drowned out the High Tyto's words. It wasn't until the arrival of another owl that things finally calmed.

"Order, order in the palace! What's going on!?"

The large, rugged Barn Owl stepped out of the crowd, now going silent again as he approached to assess the situation A scar showed across his stomach, and in several other places on his battle-worn form, and his eyes flashed with an old thirst for combat, oblivious to what exactly the attention of the crowd was directed at.

"Your Pureness," he addressed. "You've returned, I see."

"Anything involving certain enemy forces occur during my absence, General Stryker?"

"Negative, sir. All things went as according to routine."

"Excellent. Now, I don't suppose you've noticed the certain band of temporary recruits behind me, have you?"

"What? Eagles, perhaps?" he surmised, taking a look behind the king to see the newcomers. "Well, I say we..."

Definitely not eagles.

"...What in the name of Lord Glaux..."

"General Stryker, these are monsters. According to local legend of where we met with the A.F.F., the race was hidden beneath a mountain for a millennia, only to resurface at the aid of a certain couple of aspiring youth within recent days. They are weaker defensively, as their bodies are composed mostly of magic...But their attacking capabilities are something to behold, and I am certain we can utilize them for the battles to come. Plus, they have agreed to help prepare the barren parcel which the Guardians use to launch their attacks on us in turn for a number of our own soldiers stationed on the mainland."

Stryker was dumbfounded by all of this. So much so, that it didn't even make sense to him.

"...What?"

"I'll explain later. I've positions to assign these new members of the force."

The old Sooty Owl turned.

"Alright, you fellows. Before we have you set off for the parcel, I might see if I can have Gwyndor fit you for some weapons..."

His voice grew indistinct as he departed from the rest of the crowd. Nyra, Ginger and the other four trainees broke away from the crowd, leading a particularly worn out Ginger to her quarters.

"Quite a trip, eh?" Uklah remarked. "You look about ready to keel over."

"I could use the break," the General nodded. "Last week was just..."

She sighed, shaking her head.

"Think you'll be up for a bit o' training tomorrow night?" Vaygar questioned.

"I'm not sure...We'll see, I guess."

She seemed a bit despondent, and in somewhat of a daze.

_Maybe she's still depressed about leaving her friends..._ Phillip assumed.

"Would you, uh, like our company for a while?" he offered.

"No, I...I think I just want to rest for a bit."

"It is fairly late in the day; I believe we were awake for a good day and a half, actually," Nyra acknowledged. "And I can imagine you had a very eventful week...Perhaps at Tweener tomorrow, you'd like to explain some of what you did underneath Mount Ebott to us? I would think it must be fairly fascinating."

Ginger nodded lightly as they all came to stand before her hollow.

"...Well, here we are, Tyto. Your old quarters. Just the same as how you left them."

She stared up at them. This was real. She was really here. Home. And back to normal.

"Erm...Ginger? Are you quite al-"

She was cut off when the child swiftly spun to face her and flung her wings around her. Nyra was about to ask what the problem was, but the suppressed snivel of a sob that came from the owlet was all the answer she needed.

"I thought I'd never see any of you again..."

The white owl sighed, putting her own wing over her student.

"Come now, young one," she consoled. "You're back, now. You needn't worry anymore."

Vaygar's eyes widened at the scene. Of all the owls he would expect to break down in their squadron, Ginger was at the bottom of that list. Whatever she'd gone through beneath that mountain, it must have done something particularly altering to her tempered spirit.

"And look what you've done, child," Nyra continued. "You defied the odds. Survived the Underground, brought their prince back, and in doing so, ultimately helped to save their entire race from eventual extinction! And on top of that, you lead them here to aid in our cause!"

"Heh..."

She pulled away from the Ablah General, wiping her face dry on her wing.

"There is a reason, owlet, that you were bestowed with the title of General," she explained. "You have achieved greatness. And you are destined for even greater to come. And wherever the currents of life lead you, we will all be behind you."

Ginger turned to face her fellow Pure Ones in training. Uklah. Phillip. Vaygar. Kludd. All of them were there to accompany her in the journey of life.

And so would her friends on the mainland.

Kludd stepped forward, glancing off to the side a bit.

"So..." he began. "I know you just got back and all, but...Maybe tomorrow night, if you're up for it, we could go night-flying for a bit? I mean, if you're not busy, or-"

"I might take you up on that."

"Oh, really?"

She nodded.

"Oh...Well, er...That sounds good. Good...Em...So...turning in?"

She nodded.

"Alright, then. I'll...we'll see you tomorrow."

"G'light, Kludd."

"You, too."

"Hey," Uklah said to her. "...Glad you're back."

Ginger smiled at her.

"It's good to be back."

The other owlets turned away. Nyra lead the young General into the hollow, and she readily stepped into her downy nest and bedded down to roost.

"I'll go easy on the training for tomorrow," she notified her. "Maybe have a bit of a bigger evening meal in celebration for the current events. Yes, I know we just had one on the mainland, but I must admit, I've taken a liking to meal gatherings as of late. They give off a nice, homey aura, don't they?"

"They do..." Ginger yawned.

"Proud of you, General," Nyra finished, turning and stepping out of the stone hollow.

"Hey...Nyra?"

She swiveled her head around. THAT got her attention; nary a soul beneath her ever addressed her by informally. But it wasn't out of lack of respect for her authority. Rather it seemed more...personal.

"Yes, owlet?"

"Would...it be an issue for some of the guys from the mainland to visit every so often if they can?"

"They can always come, Ginger," she nodded. "Always."

"Heh..."

Her drowsiness was catching up to her mind, and she let out another yawn.

"Tell the guys I said goodnight..."

Nyra let out a soft quip of a laugh.

"Will do."

She stepped out of the stone hollow, pinching the lit candle beside the door out.

"...Goodnight, Ginger."

Nyra left, and the owlet curled into her nest, content.

"...Goodnight, everyone," she mumbled to herself. "...See you soon."

It was odd, but right before she drifted off, she could have sworn she smelled the sweet scent of Golden Flowers wafting up from somewhere below.


	45. One Year Later(TRUE ENDING)

"Egh...I'm gonna need the blades on these replaced soon," Ginger muttered to herself as she wiped her cloth down each of them.

She'd just gotten through another troublesome mob of crows with her fellow Tytos, and was tending to her battleclaws. The claw parts at the tips of the talon pieces were growing short from all of the sharpening they'd gone through. She'd have to tell Gwyndor about it when she next got the chance so he could replace them.

The owl took a look at the cloth she was using; it was smeared red with crows' blood, as well as some dirt. Filthy heathens...

She might have felt worse about killing so many if they had an ounce of refined sense. They didn't seem to be "all there," compared to other, more intelligent birds. If they were, maybe they wouldn't act they way they did; maybe crows and owls could have found peaceful grounds with one another. Maybe she could find a way to make it so someday; a world were owls and crows live in harmony.

"...Hm. That sounds familiar," she remarked.

"got me again."

"AH!"

She swiveled her head around, and a familiar figure was standing on the opposite side of her chamber, right beside her nest.

Instantly, her fears disappeared and formed a smile.

"Sans," she acknowledged. "D-dude, it's been three months!"

"and you still knew i was there, huh?"

"What? Ah, no, actually, I was just talking to myself about stuff. Uh..."

She looked down at the battleclaws she was holding, scrunching up the bloody cloth she was using on them to try and hide the bloodstains.

"So, uh...How's your hot dog stand?"

"your LOVE's at six, now. just thought i'd let you know."

"...Oh. Right. You can do that thing."

"look, kid. i don't blame you for doin' your duty. i mean, if you don't, who will? it's for a good cause...as long as it's all justified."

"Yeah...I wish I could spare them more often; a lot of the enemies I go up against aren't so willing to back down."

"so who'dja dunk on?"

"Well...Crows, mostly. Lots of them. It's the usual. And a few rebels; most of them surrendered peacefully, just because they knew they were outnumbered, but...These two guys. Bay Owls. They were, like, cult leaders or something like that. EXTREME anarchists. Had a bunch of followers...How ironic, am I right?"

"didja give 'em a bad time?"

"I ended up in a squabble with one of them, and turns out the guy had a frinking FLAIL. Would've smashed my brains in if I wasn't wearing my helmet. But he wasn't the only one with spikes. You've seen my helmet before, so you know what I mean, right?"

"right. how'dja deal with that one?"

"Right when he brought the spike part back to try and land another hit, his belly was exposed and I rammed 'em. It wasn't all that clear, since there was so much blood, but I did see something trailing behind him as he fell...Pretty sure they were his intestines, looking back.

"oh...man...it's hard to phase you, huh?"

"I've seen a lot of nasty stuff...I...But you're, like...not upset or anything?"

"ey. you're just doin' whatcha gotta do. you said it yourself; sometimes, you just have to fight to maintain peace."

"Yeah...You are right about that. Erm, speaking of which, how's everyone doin' over there? Been a while since we got together last. Sorry I haven't had the time to show up; I got a message from Joss again about a month ago saying that you all wanted me to come on down for old times sake...I think Papyrus wrote it? It looked like his handwriting. And he said something about a 'pleasant surprise' for when I showed up. I would have answered way earlier on, but it's been getting a little more hairy around here as of late. We think the Guardians might be rounding up bands of crows themselves and sending them right to the Beaks to distract us from other concerns; they have Doc Finebeak on their side you know, so I wouldn't put it past their abilities."

"understood...well...surprises...yeah, there's more than one, now."

"Really?"

"guess i'll tell you how it's been. i moved my hot dog stand to the surface. my brand is officially called "illegal hotdogs," because they're so good they should be illegal. open a good twelve hours a week."

"Oh, wow. I gotta buy another one of those sometime."

"don't sweat it; on the house. undyne actually worked at one of my stands for a bit before she moved on to greener pastures...she hated it. she hated it so much that she doesn't even wanna be a customer anymore. it's hilarious."

"Aw, man...It'd be funny to still see her workin' someplace like that. Like, what a downgrade from "Captain of the Royal Guard," am I right?"

"absolutely...she probably would have trashed the place at some point, though, so i guess it's good she quit."

"What are her greener pastures like?"

"police officer; good at that, i gotta admit. she's got that burnin' passion for chasin' thugs down and throwin' them into the slammer. she's calmed down...just a bit, since last you were last with us."

"Just a bit, huh?"

"not too much. still pretty much the same."

"What about Alphys?"

"she's a lot of things, but they all still fit under 'scientist'," he quoted with his fingers. "biotechnician, chemist, programmer, you know, etc, etc... still a huge weeb, though. papyrus tried to show her more of those dinosaur movies you two liked...the indoraptor gave her nightmares."

"'Indoraptor'? Sorry, I've, ah...only seen _Jurassic Park III_. Which is that one from?"

"the latest one:_ jurassic world: fallen kingdom._ came out, like, two years ago. i saw it; thought it was pretty dope. you'd prob'ly like it."

"Man...And I still have yet to see the FIRST Jurassic Park movie, don't I?"

"that one is also dope...admittedly, more dope than all the others, in my opinion. i did the research for ya, but i won't spoil anything unless you want me to."

"Not necessary. Uh...Yeah, that reminds me. How's Alphy doin' with fish-face?" she asked, somewhat of a grimace forming on her beak at the thought.

"oh, uh, about that. that's not a thing anymore. things got pretty messy just after the last time you were with us."

"They...broke up?"

"yeah. still friends, though. actually, they're pretty okay with it; i ain't ever seen 'em closer."

"Huh...Well, I can't say I'm upset by that. They go after anyone else?"

"oh. that reminds me. my brother made a pretty good ambassador; he's in the food business now, too; bet you can imagine what he's whippin' up."

"Pasta?"

"bingo. before you freak out, though, his dishes are actually pretty impressive now. i tip my hat to ya, kid; you're the one who started helpin' him out in the first place."

"Ha...Wow...And to you as well, for your amazing dogs."

"heh...i'm proud of him. and it's not just his success in the pasta business, but...uh...what was your question again?"

"If Alphys and Undyne have their eyes on other people. I mean, I could care less about fishy, 'cause she'll drive anybody nuts, but Al' always seemed sorta lovesick, so she at least needs someone to hold onto."

"oh, yeah. that was where i was going. so, kid...remember when you were back in the underground with us?"

"Yeah..."

"and you made fun of paps and undyne thinkin' they were-"

"Oh. Oh, yeah. I remember that. That was hilarious."

"yeah...well, turns out you weren't entirely wrong about that."

"...Is this going where I think it's going?" Ginger asked, a huge, dopey grin forming out of what used to be a nasty grimace.

"it's lookin' like it's heading in that direction...neither of 'em wanna admit it, though."

"HA! I KNEW IT! I CALLED IT! I KNEW THEY'D GO GREAT TOGETHER! I KNEW IT FROM THE START! HA HA HA HAHAHA! Ha...! Heh...Eh...So, I hate to be a 'the glass is half-empty' kind of bird, but when do you think she'll drive him over the edge like my brother did to me?"

"honestly? never; he's a lot more patient with people than alphys...well, not to say she's _impatient_, but it takes a lot to handle her. fortunately, my bro has plenty o' that, and then some. and, uh...alphys. actually, i'm not sure about her. it's been a while since she had her eyes on anyone, but she's doin' alright for the most part. she's been hangin' out with all the rest of us a lot more often, maybe to make up for that...she's been sayin' she'd like to see you again; found some more anime she thinks you might enjoy... still has bad days sometimes, though. still feels guilty about the whole thing with the amalgamates. we're all there for her; me especially. i know how to handle stuff like that."

"...You especially, huh?"

Ginger raised her feathery brow, and Sans caught on.

"i know what you're thinkin', and no. nope. absolutely not."

"Come on; you two are the perfect size for each-"

"doot doot, all aboard the nope train. we're on our way to nopesville. population: sans."

"Fine...So, uh...What about the Dreemurrs?"

"pretty good; with tori as the teach' in one of the schools, asriel's whizzin' right through most of the courses. and asgore's gardening business is comin' along pretty good."

"So, anything new between them?"

"not since last time you were with us, but hey, at least they're good 'n' friendly with each other, and i'm rootin' for 'em. heheheh...my tricks worked. now all i need is to take it to the next level...might need some help, though."

"O-ho, KAY. I'll be your right wing bird. That's cool...That's VERY cool, actually. So, um...What'd you do, shortcut here?"

"if your game, we can head right on over to civilization right here and right now."

"Sounds great, but I gotta get Nyra's OK," she told him, heading for the exit to her stone hollow and spreading her wings. "If she approves, then we can go. Just wait right outside here!"

"will do."

Ginger flew off to find the Ablah General, and Sans stood outside her hollow, leaning up against the wall beside it. Another Pure One passed by the hollow on foot, and he failed to see the skeleton in his peripheral vision, which was obscured by the uniform iron mask he wore over his face.

"hey, fella."

The owl swiveled its head to face the voice, and immediately staggered back in shock.

"What in the name of-!?" he exclaimed, his voice as rough as his dusty plumage.

"...Wait," he realized. "Are you one of those monsters? Don't remember any lookin' like you, though..."

"that'd be the case," the monster confirmed, extending a bony hand. "name's sans. sans the skeleton."

The owl removed his helmet; he was a Barn Owl, like Ginger herself, but male, and far older, and his facial disc was adorned with several old, dark scars.

"General Stryker," he greeted, hesitantly meeting him halfway with his wing. "Head of the Army."

"so, you're in charge of the whole fighting fleet, huh? must have your work cut out for ya."

"You haven't the foggiest idea," the owl scoffed, in an almost scolding tone. "There are over two thousand owls serving in the Tytonic Army, and I'm the one who tells them all where to be, what to do, and how to do it. Two thousand soldiers. Can you imagine? Save from being the Ablah General or High Tyto himself, it's the biggest job anyone can take on in this line o' work."

"wow...so you've got a lotta blood on your talons, eh?" he asked, raising the brow of his socket.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Stryker retorted.

"so, you never feel any remorse for doin' what you're doin'?"

"Why should I?" he snapped. "They're the enemy, after all! Do you mean to tell us that we should, what? TALK to them? We tried that and it didn't work, so we went for the nest best option; slaughtering 'em all! And it's working! Remorse for defeating the enemy is a dire weakness, if you ask me, monster. You lose the moment you back down."

"you never take a look at the other side o' the coin, do you?" Sans asked him, secretly analyzing his LOVE and EXP; his was the scarily high level of 18, with 50 EXP to spare.

"come on, man; think about it once and a while before you make your claws too red."

Stryker rolled his slate grey eyes.

"Didn't you hear a word of what I just said?"

"don't you ever step down off your high horse and consider bein' a decent guy? it might do you some good, who knows..."

"Ooh, all high and righteous with your '_step off my high horse,_'" the army head mocked. "And I'm getting this from a reanimated corpse, the audacity."

"hey, i ain't hatin'. just maybe use some MERCY now and then."

"And lower my guard!? See, this is why you were all trapped underground in the first place!"

"**GENERAL ****STRYKER!**"

The screeching voice came from behind, and the Head of the Army swiveled his head around to face it. Ginger had returned, and on either side of her now stood a fellow Tyto Alba. The one to her left was about her age; her feathers were more of a light buff, though, and she was less stocky, her sea green eyes wide with curiosity. To her right was a familiar-looking white being with red-tipped wings, her blue and gold eyes narrowed angrily at Stryker.

"Ablah General, ma'am," the male owl addressed, suddenly seeming much more humble. "Please pardon my outburst. I was merely educating our visitor on how things are-"

"That is not an excuse, General!" she interrupted. "And as it is, your elite squadron awaits you at the Half Spire, so I suggest you depart for there effective immediately."

"Yes, General ma'am," he complied, spreading his wings and flying off to meet his fighters. Once he was gone, the queen sighed.

"Stryker, I tell you," she huffed, rolling her own eyes. "He used to be the one everybody looked up to. But times have changed since the birth of the Union, and he refuses to let go of his precious ego. Let alone his, erm...attachment to the Pure Ones' original ideas. If he weren't such an effective leader, I'd have demoted him back to a lieutenant quite some time ago."

"wow. guy sounds like a real numbskull."

"No joke," Nyra agreed.

"you sure about that?"

She raised an eyebrow, then looked at him, then at Ginger, then at the third Barn Owl; all three of them looked like they were holding back a stream of giggles.

"Numsk-...Oh, I get it," she finally realized, emitting a light, hiccuppy laugh herself. "Because you're a skeleton."

"How long as he been with us again?" the slimmer owl inquired.

"Oh, just about thirty years, Uklah. First commander of the first generation of the Nyra Annihilators, behind my lead. He was our second-wing owl for the longest time."

"First generation, eh? Who's the second?"

"Hmm...I'm still considering it. So, Mr. Sans, friend," Nyra addressed the skeleton. "I hope you don't mind, but during our conversation, we were joined by young Ms. Uklah. Friend of Ginger's; you might remember her from the meeting in the pine tree grove back on the main land, first we met?"

"oh, yeah. haven't really gotten to know any of your crew mates, have i?"

"Nope," Ginger answered him, putting her wing around her friend. "Uklah's been SUPER curious about you guys; wasn't really sure about takin' her along until now...That is, if it's within everybody's best interests."

"no, no, that's cool. so, uh, i guess the kid gave you the scoop, your generalness? err...what was it?"

"Oh, no 'General' nonsense, just Nyra is perfectly fine. And yes, indeed, I have granted my approval...Under one condition."

Ginger's gaze turned to the Ablah General skeptically. She'd never heard anything about a catch.

"being?"

"Why, that I myself may join your party, along with Uklah!"

"oh...that's it?"

"Really? You wanna hang with us and the monsters?"

"Well, we may have met before, but that was on business! I'd like this time around to be a might more personal, wouldn't you say? Besides, I've heard a great deal about you all from the young General here...Is it true that your brother is dating the fish?"

"oh, you had to throw that one out there, didja, kid?"

"Hey, what can I say? I'm hyped."

"i thought you didn't even like her."

"Maybe so...But at least she isn't a happy murder machine anymore, right?"

Uklah's bright gaze seemed to stiffen a bit.

"Wait, the fish...Isn't that the one you told me was les-"

"That'll do, Uklah," Ginger interrupted her before she could get the word all the way out. "Ah, heheh...Yeah, not...Not anymore, apparently. So, just...Don't finish that. Hey, who knows? We might actually end up hating each other a little less this time around."

"well, you're about to find out, kid."

He proceeded to stand straight up and extend his arms out for the owls to perch on.

"climb aboard. we're goin' to the mainland."

The Ablah General and her students fluttered their wings and perched, Nyra on his port and Ginger and Uklah on his starboard.

"okay, you two, go on and shut your eyes."

They complied, and then just a few seconds after they did...

"welp...here we are."

They opened their eyes to find that they were no longer within the towering stone walls of the Tytonic Palace, but instead stood within a small suburban area. A small cul-de-sac sat before the three, and they were positioned right in the center of the small grassy patch at the bulbous dead end, out of which a few trees grew. The air was cooled by a chilly autumn breeze, unlike the slightly warmer springtime atmosphere that'd begun to develop in the Beaks as of late.

"Huh..." Nyra remarked, her eyes scanning the surroundings, quite impressed by the cozy community nestled among the forest. "I must admit; I never thought I'd see human civilization up this close before. Erm, do you think anyone is watching?"

"i'd say you're safe. people are startin' to retire. how 'bout you two dig the sunset? bright, eh? heh...like the future..."

"I should certainly hope," she agreed. "...So, which one does the goat family live in?"

"Boss Monsters," Ginger corrected lightly. "I was about to ask the same thing, though."

"well, there's two, like i said, but on the same block. this here's my place. hope you fellas don't mind, but i pre-gathered everyone here so we could all hang."

"Say, thanks for that! Hey, it, ah...It looks exactly like the one in Snowdin. Or is that just me?"

"nope. gave 'em the blueprints. nostalgia's weird, ain't it?"

"Can't say I disagree with that," Uklah nodded.

"welp...no use just standin' around out here like a bunch o' boneheads. let's head on in there."

"You've GOTTA meet Alphys," Ginger told the other young owl. "You two are gonna hit it off, I swear."

"You mean the dinosaur? Isn't that the one you said threw up over that _Jurassic Park_ movie?"

"_Jurassic Park III._ Yeah, exactly. Oh, man...You're probably gonna like movies. Just as good as any book...And even better, because it's _visual_!"

"How many of these movies have you seen?" Nyra wondered aloud.

"Oh, I've seen a few during my visits here, and not just the dinosaur ones; I've found a few films that I have yet to show her, still, that I've seen with the skelebros! Oh, man, they're all so AWESOME...I can't wait to show you guys _Sharknado!_"

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_**A Pure One Underground**_

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_by Ginger the Barn Owl_

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THE END


	46. Special Thanks and Final Words

**Ha ha ha ha...**

**Did you REALLY think it was OVER!?**

**I mean, we haven't even done the Special Thanks yet!**

**Ready? Let's end all of this for good!**

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.

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_**Special Thanks**_

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**This one goes out to both my two main followers for this story, as well as the other works/authors that helped inspire it!**

**-ARTFULLY: I honestly didn't expect this story to be that successful. When you posted your first review, I wasn't even completely sure I was going to make it he long-term project that it ultimately became. Saying that all of the positive feedback was a motivator for me to continue it is an understatement. Thanks for the feedback, and may all the chapters you read be great!**

**-TIMEBLADE: I looked forward to your feedback a lot while I wrote this. I've actually never gotten a compliment on my cover art. I make all of my cover art myself, too, so it's nice to have that pointed out!**

**Other Followers:**

**-CharlieFreemantheJumperch  
-Cheetahpelt1  
-DragonGal30010  
-Elexta  
-Fellow-Human9923  
-Lexithewitch  
-Monkeyawesome  
-SilverFox246  
-StoryBrookFields95  
-Wonkie  
-waffle  
-wishindo**

**Inspirational Authors+Stories:**

**-TheOriginalTale, _Undertale: Chronicle _series.  
-J. W. Fox, _Undertale: The Seventh Soul_  
_-_TakaiWolf, _PATCHWORK SOUL  
-_jumbochamploonrules, _A Journey to Find Family_**

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**_Q and A_**

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**So, now would be a good time, if any, to get questions out of the way that you might be having about some of the events in this story...Tell you what! You can P.M. me any questions you have about it, and I'll put them in here as I get them! It'll help clarify things for future readers, if any. I'll only be putting ten here, though, so make 'em count!**

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**_Author's Recommendations_**

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**Hey, I write other things besides this! Wanna go read them? Here's a synopsis!**

**-The_ Ginger's Adventures _series. A lot of aspects of these stories are present in this work. Be warned; a lot of the entries are pretty old, and not that great compared to my more recent works. The first two stories are currently being revised(Ginger was too much of a Mary Sue...But let's face it, all of our first O.C.s were Mary Sues/Gary Stus.) If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to let me hear it.**

_**-The Adventures of Raptor**_** _Trainer: The Island Challenge Arc_. ****Tired of reading about Ginger and her shenanigans with the Pure Ones? How 'bout a story about a certain Velociraptor that gets thrown into the Alola Region!? Sound crazy? You bet it is! But a heartfelt story about finding home lies beneath that deceitful summary...**

**-_Time Heals All Wounds. _A very recent publication. Another Undertale fanfic, this time based off the Neutral Route where you only kill Mettaton. Drama! Character growth! Emotion! Mystery! Undyrus! Wait, what was that last one...?**

**Oh, well. There's my input. If you wanna ready any of it, go ahead. :)**

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Thanks to friends and  
family for supporting this. And I thank  
you, the reader, from  
the bottom of my heart.  
Without you, all of this  
would be impossible.

Good night.


	47. The S E Q U E L

**Hold on to your helmets, because the SEQUEL'S OUT, SPRINKTARDZ! :D**

**The Pure One has freed the Underground...But a deadly purge is rising on the surface, and it must be stopped before anymore innocent lives are lost.**

**If you haven't seen it yet, that's probably because it's in the Undertale crossover section. The second chapter's underway, and I've got an awesome co-author working alongside me!**

**See you guys there!**


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